Change

It's crazy to me how much I change with age and circumstances. When I was pregnant with Hailey 7 years ago (GASP! 7 YEARS AGO????) I would have never considered cloth diapers (ICK) and I wasn't willing to put in the effort to nurse her full time. I wish I could go back and ask myself WHY NOT? Truth be told because it wasn't a necessity. I was blessed with the ability to buy diapers and formula without it hurting my budget. As a college student I hadn't acquired anything of value yet.
However a few kids later, a mortgage, a couple car payments, etc. I started exclusively breastfeeding Scarlett as more of a necessity and grew into an amazing experience. An experience that I wish I hadn't squandered with Hailey and Ike. Granted also Hailey and Ike were both tongue tied and that causes issues and Ike just wouldn't, but I wish I'd put in the research to find out why we were having issues and fixing them. Scarlett luckily is not tongue tied and loved nursing from the beginning. We now have a bond that I can't explain and I hate that our precious time will end sooner than I'd like. It's truly a priceless experience and I can't believe I squandered it before, but I'm making sure to not miss a moment this time around. Best part it's free and super healthy for baby!
As far as my crazy new obsession, cloth diapers. You heard me right, CLOTH DIAPERS! I can't believe how under informed I was about these genius inventions. These aren't your grandma's cloth diapers, they are new easy and the cutest things ever. Really the only difference is you wash them instead of taking them to the trash...that's it. Simple huh? For those scared of getting poop on you, I can speak from experience disposables have been to blame for an uncountable number of poop on me incidents... I don't believe that there will be any more with cloth than there have been with disposables, YIPPEE! I ordered a bunch from Diaper Junction's 30 day test drive option. They offer a variety of different diapers to choose from, and the best part is you get to choose which ones you try, it's not prepackaged with ones you know you don't want. You pay for the ones you choose to try, based on the options provided, and then try them for 30 days. If you hate them you're only out the shipping and handling, NICE! And really I feel I'm not out anything since I'm using these diapers and would have had to use disposables anyways. For those of you who know me though, you know I lack patience, big time! Once I decided cloth was for us I couldn't wait to get my hand on one and was dying that I was going to have to wait a whole week for them to arrive. Luckily I found a place in Ogden Green The World that carries a small selection of diapers, so naturally I rushed over and bought one. It was fantastic! It is adorable, super absorbent, and did I mention adorable?

Really I'm just amazed at how much I've changed over the last 7 years. Man I just can't get over that it's been that long. I love all my kids so ridiculously much it's just crazy! I am so blessed to have such an amazing family!!!

Time To Be More Positive!

I'm horrible at this blogging regularly thing, but I'm trying to be better. Let me start by thanking my cousin Mollie Rose! Her post on being positive really inspired me. I have been feeling a little negative about the election and a few other bits and pieces. I'm lucky to have people in my life that are able to be so positive and help bring me around. The other blessing is my faith. I don't know what I would do without the Gospel and knowing that my family is eternal. On to my post...

I'm not sure why I'm continually amazed at how fast life goes, but I am. My kids are growing up in the blink of an eye and I can't seem to slow it down or come to terms with it. I'm sad to think that soon I won't have a baby cooing at me, but a toddler running around talking my ear off. I love every second and am extremely grateful for Jason who works long hours, so that I can enjoy every second of it. I worked when Hailey and Ike were this age and am realizing quickly how much I missed out on. 

Hailey and the school situation has gotten better. They did testing about 6 weeks into the school year....she passed off all the math and is beginning the year reading where they expect the 2nd graders to start off, WOO HOO! I love my little smarty pants. She has also already passed off her 1st and 2nd grade sight words. She wants her 3rd grade ones, but I want her to learn to spell them first and not just read them before she moves on. I couldn't be more pleased with her and her love for learning. She is so internally motivated and just thrives on success. Truly I couldn't ask for anything more from her, she is amazing.

Ike and preschool are also doing better. His teachers don't force him to try on his work, so this is a little bit stressful for me. At the beginning of the year I would get those letter tracing papers back with just scribbles on them and no attempt at the letters, can you say FRUSTRATING? Luckily this week I got one where he'd tried to trace the letters WOO HOO, however then there were scribbles all over the top...at least we are getting some progress. Today he went to the fire station and LOVED it! He hasn't taken off of that cool plastic fire hat or stopped talking about it. Does anyone know where to get another fire hat? I'm dreading the day this one breaks, it could be a major tragedy. He is such an awesome kid and is thriving on the structure of being back in school. The amount of knowledge he can gain when he is interested in a subject blows my mind...I hope he can find a way to be interested in school work and not just cars and trucks. I love this kid so much it's unreal!

Scarlett is growing like crazy. She'll be 7 months old on Wednesday...7 months? She is still just rolling all over. She is trying to crawl, but usually ends up going backward instead of forward and then just goes back to rolling. She started a new screamy thing when she's tired, she tries to squeal so high pitched that it just sounds like air......that's when you know it's nap time and she's not taking no for an answer. Her delightful demeanor and ridiculously fat cheeks make her one irresistible baby. I hate how fast she is growing, but I'm loving watching every second of it. 

Jason is fantastic! He is loving his job and hating the commute. I guess that's better than hating your job, since he spends less time commuting than working. Maybe one day he'll finally have a job he loves and a short commute. We are just loving life and watching our children grow. We are truly so blessed and couldn't asked for anything more in life.