Parenting

Is it just me, or is parenting more complicated these days?  There are talk shows and self help books everywhere you turn, and it all seems to encourage a hands-off parenting style.  How sick is that?  We’re told to protect our fetuses, nurture our infants, protect our toddlers, but when our children begin to develop their own personality, and want to test boundaries, that’s when we’re told to back off.

I believe in a hands-on type of parenting.  Nurturing, protective, encouraging and disciplining.  Now there’s another hot topic – discipline.  What is okay and what’s not?  The government seems to slowly be tying our hands when it comes to disciplining our children, and it’s showing in the increased prison inmate numbers.  Personally, I see myself as raising future men.  My boys will most likely be employees, husbands and fathers.  Can you imagine these men lacking boundaries?  That quickly becomes a very scary thought.  My decisions today will affect more than just my children in the future, so making the right choices now is very important.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m nowhere close to being the perfect parent, but every day I get up and try again.  That’s really all any of us can do.  Feel free to follow my parenting adventures. 🙂

The Plan To Cloth Diaper

I’ve been up and on Pinterest all night, and come to a conclusion – I want to try cloth diapering 🙂  This is something I’ve considered previously, but was only supported by one or two friends, so I went with the simpler disposable diapers.  My friend (who also has four children) cloth diapered all her little ones, and raves about all the benefits.

Cost Savings

Over a three year period, disposables will cost around $2,625, while cloth diapers will cost around $1,105, which equals a saving of $305, but that’s if you BUY the cloth diapers – I intend to make them myself and buy some second-hand.  Making them myself will save me even more money, which is fantastic!

Diaper Rash

Apparently, using cloth diapers causes less or no diaper rashes, which is pretty great.  I’m also going to use reusable cloth wipes, which will also help in this area.

Potty Training

Also, potty training tends to go a lot more smoothly when using cloth diapers.  That benefit is almost more impressive to me than the monetary savings.

Environment

In the course of a child’s diapering phase, a baby wearing disposables will contribule 8,000-10,000 diapers to the landfill.  This kind of diapers takes 500 years to decompose.

My plan is to make a few with removable liners, and see how it goes.  If it goes well, I’ll continue to make more.  If it’s a flop, I’ll give away or sell what I made.  Either way, I will have tried, and I can be proud of that 🙂

Birthday 5.5!!!

Today is my Kaleb’s half birthday – 5.5 today!!!  I began celebrating the kids’ half birthdays a few years ago, and the LOVE it!  I’ve decided this year to surprise Kaleb – both for my benefit and his.  Surprising him would make it that much more exciting for him, and I don’t have to hear him asking all day about when we leave 🙂

I wrote out invites for all of his classmates and teacher, and since Kaleb can’t read, he had no clue what he was handing out 🙂  I let his teacher know it’s a surprise so that she wouldn’t spill the beans, and she played right along 🙂

I’m pretty pumped about it, and am really looking forward to his reaction 😀

Kianna

Well, as you’ve probably assumed, I’ve had our little baby girl, and she’s perfect!  Kianna was born on September 8, 2014.  She was 22 inches long and weighed in at 9 pounds 1 ounce.  Due to her blood sugar level taking a dive, she had to stay in the NICU from Monday to Friday.  She’s six weeks old now and doing fantastically!  She’s growing and developing right on schedule and is a joy to have in our lives!  She’s predictable and very easy-going.  She’s got a case of thrush at the moment, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering her at all.  She’s begun to show off her social smiles and track people and objects as they move through her line of vision.  She’s doing well with her tummy time and has begun to use her adorable little voice 🙂

It’s so exciting to have another girl in the house, and I enjoy putting her in different outfits and taking countless pictures of her 🙂  I am a very happy and blessed mommy ❤

  

 

Phonics Song

This is a fun little song for teaching little ones the sounds letters make:

Months Of The Year Song

Here is our new Months Of The Year song.  Kaleb seems to love the rhythm of this song, which is really good to know 🙂

Days Of The Week Song

Repetition is key when I teach my boys anything.  This song has been fantastic for them, so I thought I’d share it with you 🙂