Who knew...

We are a Cloth Diapering family. We have exclusively cloth diapered since Téadora was about 2 months old. When Dillon was born I had three in diapers. Whew! That makes for a lot of diapers to wash every other day. Now I am down to two in diapers full-time and Aidan and Coda just wear diapers at night. Poor boys, they inherited their mothers inability to wake up to pee.

I am always asked questions about cloth diapering. I am assuming this is because it is out of the ordinary. Disposable diapers are so easy to come by these days and honestly they aren't THAT expensive. So why do we use cloth diapers?

My short answer is this: for health, economical and environmental reasons. My detailed answer starts here and will be continued later...

Cloth saves us money, cloth makes for almost ZERO diaper rash, cloth allows me to not use diapers with chemical and fragrances in them, cloth helps decrease the amount of garbage my family produces, cloth is cute on my babies booties :)

Here are some pictures and links of cloth diapers we use.

Fuzzi Bunz

bumGenius One-Size 2.0

gDiaper Cover w/ a Infant Prefold inside

I really think cloth diapering is making a come back, atleast I hope so. It is an awesome way to protect our children, to be good stewards of our finances and contribute to making our world a better (or not worse) place to live. That being said cloth diapering is not for everyone. This is a decision we have made for our family and I do not think any less of you if you don't cloth diaper, I promise.

Have any questions about your choices when it comes to diapering your child, lets chat! I don't claim to be an expert, but I love to talk about the different options that we as mothers have. I like to call them our mOPTIONS :)

How big is Dillon?

WAY TOO BIG!

Rolling over, loving his Bumbo, sitting up like a monkey, laughing all the time, being ticklish. Dillon has brought such joy to our lives. He is honestly the coolest kid, he loves being home, he loves being at the beach, at the park, in the car, I mean what kid likes all of that?! He falls asleep in between Mommy and Daddy in seconds. But nope, he is 4 months old and still not sleeping through the night. And do I care, nope! He sleeps a good chunk and then nurses on and off the rest of the night. It works for me, it works for him, I guess that is all that matters :)

Please join me

in welcoming Sookie to our family!

Sookie is a 9 week old kitten that was abandoned with her brother and sister on the harbor at 2 days old. Our new-found friend Chris bottle-fed Sookie since that day. We brought her home on Tuesday and she has been such a good girl. She has a completely different personality than Max, Aidan was the first to pick up on that. We are stilling missing Max, but having Sookie helps with the sadness.

Promised

ERGO pictures!

Nick was my trusty model last night.  Actually he loves the ERGO, he packs Téa around in it all the time.

    

       

Disclaimer: Dillon doesn't ride around on the back yet, he fits, but we just like to have him in front until he gets a little bigger.

Loving it.

My ERGO that is. I love it, Téa loves it, Nick loves it! Téa weighs in at about 23 pounds and 17 months and honestly she is almost weightless in the ERGO. The story of me and the ERGO is not a short one. I put up a fight. I mean, honestly, how much better could it be? Could a baby carrier really be worth a hundred bucks. I am hear to say, YES IT IS! I broke down and bought an ERGO almost a month ago and seriously everyday I have kicked myself for not buying one sooner. And one of the coolest things is the ERGO is totally Daddy friendly. Pictures of Téa in her ERGO are soon to come.

We will miss you...

Max!

Max was born on March 3, 2007 and went to Heaven on June 17, 2007. Max was an awesome kitten, he was bottlefed from shortly after birth and came to live with us at 6weeks old. Although Max was only in our lives a short time, he will be greatly missed.

We struggled with what to tell the boys, do we lie, do we tell the truth. Honestly I wanted to lie, I wanted to protect them from the pain of loosing their animal, I wanted to say he went away to live with his friends or something like that. However, I was convicted to tell them the truth...so we did. They cried, we looked at pictures of Max, they both carry a picture of him in their pocket. And the are mad at the "scary wolf dog" that hurt their kitten so bad that he died. (I am mad at the dog too, for what its worth.) After we told them, we prayed, asking God to keep Max safe and happy and to help each of us feel better and not be sad. I am still sad :(

She doesn't terrorize him.

I was told many negative things about having my kids so close together. Sometimes I got hurt feelings, sometimes I laughed and sometimes I wanted to scream at the person. Téa loves Dillon, Dillon loves Téa. I really don't think an explanation is needed, the pictures tell it all. I am not saying it is always like this, there are crazy moments. I mean come on I have four kids ranging from 4 1/2 to 4months...how could it not be crazy, at least sometimes.

Through all the chaos, there is a calm. A calm brought to our family by our Lord. He is the one who gave us our children, the children that are "so close together". He is the one that entrusted us with their lives, He is the one that gave us the joy of raising them, He is the one that allows me to be kissed and hugged by them each day and He is the one that gives us the strength when we think we can't go on. He is the ONE.

More Tie Dye!

Yipee!

I went out on a limb today. And surprisingly enough the limb didn't break.

I am a regular at DiaperSwappers. More often than not I have been frequenting the forums to add to my stash of cloth diapers and various accessories :) A few times I have sold some diapers that we no longer used or didn't work for us. But today I tried something new. I decided to put some of my Tie Dye up for sale in the WAHM (Work at Home Mom) Wares forum. Holy Moly! I have gotten such an awesome response. So far I have sold NINE shirts! I am so excited. I am selling the shirts for not a large profit, because more than anything I just want to make enough money to buy the shirts and supplies and then I get to Tie Dye at someone else's expense. As I continue to perfect my designs, I hope to be able to charge a little more...a girl can always use some extra money!

So thank you to the mama's who liked my Tie Dye enough to buy it. I can't wait to see those shirts on all your little ones!

Possibly addicted...

to tie-dyeing. It is therapeutic. It allows me to complete something other than dishes and laundry. And tie-dyeing is awesome because there is a something to show for what I have done...a finished product.

When Kristy first taught me how to tie dye it was hard.  Not the actual tying or dyeing, but the fact that no matter how hard you tried, you really didn't *know* exactly how the shirt was going to turn out.  If you know me and my ways, that was hard for me!

 I get all my tie dye supplies from Dharma Trading.  They have everything you could possibly need.  Plain white clothes, dyes, squirt bottles, syringes and on and on.

 

 

 

Who knew?

We are a Cloth Diapering family. We have exclusively cloth diapered since Téadora was about 2 months old. When Dillon was born I had three in diapers. Whew! That makes for a lot of diapers to wash every other day. Now I am down to two in diapers full-time and Aidan and Coda just wear diapers at night. Poor boys, they inherited their mothers inability to wake up to pee.

I am always asked questions about cloth diapering. I am assuming this is because it is out of the ordinary. Disposable diapers are so easy to come by these days and honestly they aren't THAT expensive. So why do we use cloth diapers?

My short answer is this: for health, economical and environmental reasons. My detailed answer starts here and will be continued later...

Cloth saves us money, cloth makes for almost ZERO diaper rash, cloth allows me to not use diapers with chemical and fragrances in them, cloth helps decrease the amount of garbage my family produces, cloth is cute on my babies booties :)

Here are some pictures and links of cloth diapers we use.

Fuzzi Bunz

bumGenius One-Size 2.0

gDiaper Cover w/ a Infant Prefold inside

I really think cloth diapering is making a come back, atleast I hope so. It is an awesome way to protect our children, to be good stewards of our finances and contribute to making our world a better (or not worse) place to live. That being said cloth diapering is not for everyone. This is a decision we have made for our family and I do not think any less of you if you don't cloth diaper, I promise.

Have any questions about your choices when it comes to diapering your child, lets chat! I don't claim to be an expert, but I love to talk about the different options that we as mothers have. I like to call them our mOPTIONS :)

So cool.

For Nick's birthday he got something he has been wanting...well pretty much forever. It is essentially a mini-recording studio. So for the past few weeks I see very little of Nick in the evenings. Last night he came inside with a few songs on a CD. I went to work and created him a Myspace page. It is totally still in the works. But I had to share.
The songs are available to be your profile songs. And ask Nick to be your friend...it would make his day, hehehe.

~Nick Lende Music~

Decluttering...

a ton of my clothes that don't fit anymore. Plus, I am trying to make some money to buy this. Check back later for purses and different size "bags" that I will be selling, I have to purge FIVE in order to buy my new bag :)

~All clothes are in EUC (Excellent Used Condition), some NWT (New With Tags).
~Shipping is in addition to prices, I will find cheapest shipping for what you purchase
~Purchase 7 items or more and receive FREE SHIPPING
~Please email lendefamily@gmail.com for more information, pictures or to make offers
~Clothes are all clean, although some have been in plastic bins for storage

Pants~Capris~Skirts~Dresses

Shirts~Long Sleeve~Short Sleeve~Tank

Sweaters~Jackets~Scarf

Thank you for looking :)
If you know anyone who might have interest in these items, you can refer them to my blog.

Changing slowly.

For the past six months or so I have been on a mission to simplify mine and my families life and strive to attain a healthier family. My main task in simplifying has been decluttering - still have tons of junk, but less than we use to. To become healthier, I have been doing a lot of research and reading, one book imparticular has been Nourishing Traditions. As we run out of something, we are examining whether there is a better/healthier alternative. First we started using Whole Organic Cane Sugar, instead of white sugar, brown sugar or any other sweetener. We have also switched from using antiperspirant deodorant to using Burt's Bees Herbal Deodorant.

Although these changes are coming along slowly, I believe it is for the best. We are consciously making the decisions after a lot of research, guidance, thought and prayer. Making the changes slowly will hopefully inhibit the burnout factor. You all know what I am talking about...you jump into something full-force, it sounds neat, it is exciting and then you burn out. I am trying to avoid that :)

Bon Voyage

I have one sister. Samantha Marlene Rehe. She was born August 6, 1986. Honestly she bugged me while I was growing up...honestly she is my best friend now. Samantha has had and still has many names - here are a few, Sam-Bo, 'E', Sammie, Seester, Sam-wham-callahan, Chubby Cheeks.

'E' is growing up. Last Friday 'E' and Sergio were engaged (finally!) CONGRATS, HUGE CONGRATS. This Friday I said good-bye to my Seester. 'E' is going to Ghana for SEVEN weeks. She is studying at a University there. I look up to 'E', she has taken life on and she is winning. She is double - majoring in International Studies w/ a Focus on Africa and the Middle East AND English AND she is minoring in French. I mean seriously, who does that?!

So Seester, have fun, enjoy every minute, we will all be waiting for you to return, but please embrace your journey with and open mind and open arms. We love our 'E'!

P.S. Remember your mission :)

First for everything...

I went in to get Téa up from her nap today, only to find a not so exciting suprise. SHe had pooped. She was playing with it. Poop was everywhere. It is my fault, she usually wears these diapers, but today I put her in a prefold and cover. So instead of snaps holding it on, there was velcro. Never again.
I picked her up under her arms and carried her to the bath. On went the water, in went the soap and she was scrubbed head to toe. After she was clean I turned the washer on HOT and went to retrive the POOP covered blankets, sheets, baby doll and smoochie. I sprayed everything down and still the smell of poop is mixing with the smell of dinner. EWWWW!
But honestly after all that how could you stay irritated with this sweetheart for long?!

It's more than possible.

Camping with little ones that is. This past weekend we spent camping for 3 nights at Standish Hickey State Park. We had a blast. The trip consisted of 11 people, our family of six, plus my mom (Diane), my step-dad-to-be Mike, my step-brother-to-be Tyler, my Sister and my brother-in-law-to-be Sergio.
My family slept in the tent pictured above. The tent was recently purchased at Target. It was one of the best $120 we have spent. It is a two room tent, plus a screened front area. One side of the tent fit our Queen Size Air Mattress, which was for Nick, Dillon and I. The other side fit a make-shift bed for Aidan and Coda and Téa's Pack and Play. The screened front area housed our luggage and was a perfect spot for Dillon to hang out with a barrier between he and the bugs.

Some pointers for camping with little ones...
~Bring special 'camping' toys to keep them occupied and in the campsite during set-up/take-down time, meal preparation and down time. The Stomp Rocket was a hit with my kids. We got it from Costco.
~Before you leave realize that your kids will most likely abandon any type of 'schedule' they have while camping. ie. my kids goto be at 7pm and wake up at 6:30am, while camping they went to bed a tad later and got up at 5:30am since the sun was bright and shiny :)
~Pre-plan meals, it takes a lot of the guess work out of what everyone is going to eat and when, more time to have fun
~Check with the campground to find out if it is child-friendly. Is it a strenuous hike to the river? Are there areas of the campground or specific sites that are unsafe for children? If you are visiting a state park, the rangers are usually more than helpful and in the off chance you get a ranger that is a stinker, call again a few days later, you are likely to get someone else.

If you have any questions or comments about camping with little ones please ask/comment away :)

Here are some pictures of our trip and almost more importantly all the shirts I tie-dyed :)

Eating Organic Lollypops (thank you E and Serio)

Saturday @ the beach
Dillon chillin' on the beach

Sunday @ the beach Kristy, Greg, Luke and Peter came up to spend the day with us!

I can take credit for Nick's shirt, but not for Kristy's sweatshirt

E in her tie-dye

'E' and Sergio

Aidan "fishing"

Téa digging into a huge bag of chips

And the face we have all been trying to get on camera...