Sunriver August 2013

We have made it an annual trip to visit Sunriver for a little over a week.  We love it in central oregon and it seems to be the perfect way to get away from home with little kids.

Short Family Hike To Benham Falls

Benham Falls... Nick & I trying to conspire how we could raft this.

Family Self Portrait

First Birthday

Today is McKinley's first year

9 months old

Here are some updated pictures a bit after her 9 month old mark.






This girl loves to sleep with the blanket over her head. It does concern me sometimes when I look at our video monitor to find a sight like the above. But we have a smart kid... She does make a breathing tunnel in the blanket.







McKinley is fascinated with our cats Gunner and Trey. I will feed them in the morning (she thinks their food is yummy too) and watch her interact with the cats. She gets really excited if the cats come up to her (she begins giggling and shaking). McKinley is a better cat grabber right now than petter.



Team Tuma at the MS Walk.  My mom has had Multiple Sclerosis for about 15 years.  Fortunately her form of MS is not as disabling as it is for others.    If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to help with research, therapy & finding a cure for MS....

MS walk donation site
www.WALKMSOregon.com
Go to Donate
Find our team under our name.
TEAM TUMA
You can donate on-line
Thanks Everybody!

First time drinking from a straw... And first time drinking juice.




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Cloth or disposable?

Once again, this blog post is geared to those Moms out there and soon to be Moms. I commonly get asked about my cloth diapering experience... so here goes.

The idea of handling soiled diapers may make you cringe. Assumptions from our own days of being a baby may come to mind. We think about having to deal with tri-folds, diaper pins, poop, a diaper service, smell of urine or more poop, hand washing & hanging, soaked diaper covers, and the list can go on.
You may be surprised that as a cloth diapering mama, I have hardly had to deal with any of these hurdles.
Technology has evolved and so has cloth diapering.
Do your research, and you may be surprised to learn that you too can be a cloth diapering household. It is easier than you think.

WHY I CLOTH DIAPER

1. Save $$$$

The average baby uses 8,700 diapers from birth to toilet training. If that baby wears name brand diapers it cost the parents an estimated $2,358 (@ $11.36 for a jumbo pack). If they use a generic brand it will be approximately $1,862 (@ $8.97 for a jumbo pack). And these estimates are based on the least expensive diapers.
Personally, I would rather cloth diaper and use the money toward a trip.
For me, i bought some new cloth diapers and some 2nd hand. Total, it cost an estimated $300. AND I plan on using my cloth diapering supplies for our next children as well. Which is another good point...

2. Reusable

You can use the cloth diaper supplies over the lifetime of all your children. You may have to buy a few new ones but it's amazing how little wear and tear covers and diapers have when you take care of them. Than, when you are done, those that are still in good shape can be resold.

3. Less environmental foot print

I am far from being an "environmentalist". But I am a person who gets annoyed with unnecessary waste. I like to think I am doing something to help contribute to being a greener society.

4. Hobby

This might sound odd, but it truly does become a hobby. Perhaps a weird one, but you will find yourself (like me) talking to others about it and sharing cloth diapering tips.

5. Less Diaper Rash

Very very rarely does McKinley get diaper rash. The experts say this is to be expected.

HOW TO GET STARTED AND ADVICE?

Needs:
4-6 Shells (based on washing every 2-3 days)
20-30 inserts (based on washing every 2-3 days)
Diaper pail
Diaper Liner (personally prefer "Planet Wise") Amazon to purchase
Bleach free, dye free detergent. I use Country Save. It's a bit more expensive so I only use this detergent for diapers.  Amazon to purchase

ADVICE:
When the sun is out, dry them outside. The sun is a natural bleacher. The stains are "sunned" away =)
Sprayer - attaches to your toilet. You can spray off the poop into your toilet prior to throwing it into the washing machine.
Don't need a diaper service, unless you truly desire one. To me it seemed simpler to do it myself. I simply throw the wet ones write into the washing machine. The #2 diapers I give a quick spray to in the toilet and than I throw them into the washing machine with the wet ones. I do give the diapers a double rinse. Sometimes a double wash.
Use a fleece liner when applying diaper cream. Protects the cloth insert.

WHY I CHOSE FLIP DIAPERS:

Next step is deciding on the system you want to use. This is where some research is necessary. I actually went to the local baby store "Fletchers" and checked out the different brands they had in stock. I was sold on Flips for a number of reasons. Here they are:

1. Snaps - as baby gets older they can potentially undo velcro. I get annoyed with washing velcro and having stuff stick to it. Snaps are more secure than velcro. Yet easy for me to take on and off the little one.

2. Grows with the Baby - The diaper gets larger as the baby gets larger. No need to purchase more covers as she grows.

3. it is NOT pocket style - A lot of the systems have a pocket that you slide the insert into. It just seemed a bit easier if you could lay the insert right into the cover and put it on. The flip diapers bypassed the step of trying to stuff something into a pocket.

Top left is the tri-fold Organic insert.  In the middle is the cover and on right is the "Stay Dry" Insert

4. The Stay Dry Insert is easy and clean up nicely. I recommend them over the organic inserts. They clean up nicely and are not a tri-fold like the organics. With the cotton insert you have no need to fold prior to putting them on your baby. The Organics are nice for bed time. They have three layers compared to one in the cotton that seem to lead to less leaking from 8 hours of wear.

They even have a disposable insert.  I don't use these too much.

McKinley, Diaper Cover, Stay Dry Insert

5. No leaks or blow outs. McKinley is almost 9 months old I can't even recall the last leaked or blown out diaper we had. The flips hold up nicely.

Flip Website

Easy Peasy... This is the diaper prior to going on baby

WHERE TO PURCHASE:

Local to Eugene is clothdiaperoutlet.com
She even has a great page title Cloth 101 If you want to do some more reading and research.

diaperjunction.com/used-cloth-diapers

kellyscloset.com

Fletcher's in Eugene.

and Amazon.

Good luck and have fun!

Happy Baby all snuggy in her Cloth Diaper

March Madness

 
It's one of our favorite times of year in the Larsen Household... Brackets are everywhere. We even helped McKinley with her first bracket. She had two pieces of paper and whichever one she grabbed determined whether she was picking an upset or not. Ha ha ha. We actually didn't do that. Come on we're not that over the top :)

We enjoyed our time in Portland watching the 2nd & 3rd round games. Here are some pictures.

McKinley has gotten pretty use to napping through basketball games, but since this was a long haul of 4 straight games we got her some ear muffs to help.

I thought I would also include some pictures from last year's Final Four. McKinley was in the womb :)

Gone are the days of only being able to watch one game.  Love it that I can now dictate which game I want to watch.

Sleepy Baby

I have personally gotten a kick out of McK's sleeping habits...

Everytime we put her to bed she has to find her "snuggle spot".  It is typically in the corner of her crib and she will arch her head back and roll to one side.  We couldn't figure out where she got this until one night I noticed that Nick does the same arching action in search for sleep comfort.

The second funny thing she has developed is right before she falls asleep she will lay in her bed and use the last bit of energy to play peek-a-boo with her blanket.  We will put her to bed and hear her giggling away at herself while playing peek-a-boo.  It will last a few minutes and than she's asleep.

She can sleep anywhere, anytime.  Even at basketball games =)

At a young age we began reading Mck books.  The only book we could get a reaction out of her with was "Very Busy Spider".  At 4 months old she would smile when we made animal noises.  And well, we have been reading it practically every night since.

Note to viewer:  My animal noises are not the best (Nick makes a proper duck noise & does it way better than me) but none the less I have been assured by family that my animal noises have greatly improved over the past few months.  Practice Practice Practice =)

Everyday

Everyday it seems McKinley is learning something new, discovering a new noise to make, or expressing a new face.

We go from lying in a bathtub and kicking, to sitting upright in a tub swaying like a buoy, to splashing with her hands, to playing with a rubber ducky.  It feels like this all happened in a matter of days.

I love each day with her because it's a new discovery. I feel blessed to observe her figuring out who she is and how she fits into this world. Right now it is simple complexes. Later on it will get more complicated. It's only the beginning of a lifetime of discovery. I pray and hope she continues to go about it with the attitude she has now...with thoughtfulness, careful calculation of risk and a smile on her face.

Discovering Bubbles