FAMILY KEEPSAKES

On my trip to NYC, my dad swore that Kielle looks just like me when I was her age. I can't see it yet, but it sure was nice to hear that this munchkin resembles me - Lord knows Khyri is a mini Keith hahahhaa. He showed me this picture of me and my Great Grandmother. In the picture, I am wearing my white christening gown and I have a little white bow in my hair. I remembered that I still have that gown in my dresser drawer. Clearly baby chunkiness runs in the family.

Me and my Granny circa 1977

I love personalized handmade gifts. My cousin Lyndell made Kielle a beautiful yellow crochet blanket with white trim. Kielle also received a pink crochet blanket and matching hat from my Grandma's friend. These are going to be wonderful keepsakes. I can't wait to pass them on.  Kielle's newborn photos are with her in my keepsake teal crochet outfit that my Great Aunt Eva made for me when I was a baby.

Keith and I  thought of our own keepsakes that we can purchase for the family and collect throughout the years. Although they are store bought, they still have meaning and value to us - and hopefully the generations after us. We have 3 basic themes 1. Education  2. Holidays and  3. Marriage/Births. For education, we are buying class rings from each school we have attended from High School up to Grad School (So far we've got 3 out of 6 institutions represented...I smell a Christmas present coming). We envision this being something that each generation can keep adding to.

Our holiday heirlooms started randomly one Christmas when we came across the Swarovski annual edition Christmas ornament on sale in 2004. We decided to purchase and then got hooked. We bought some off of Ebay dating back to 1991. So far, we've got 11 in our collection. The ornaments alternate between snowflakes on even years and stars on odd years. We collect the stars. For Easter 2009, Khyri received the White House Easter Egg set from Auntie Netta. This has started a great new annual collection for us!

Now the marriage keepsake we haven't started yet - but my idea is to have an anklet that I design that all of the women in the family can wear. My thought is to have the anklet made with blue stones maybe blue topaz, tanzanite, or turquoise that each woman can wear under their wedding gowns on their big day! I plan on having my linesister Halle of HAR Jewelry www.hallerichardson.com design it for me. It will be completely original and special. I figure I have some time to pull that together so no rush :-)

For births and marriages we've been mailing an invitation/announcement to the White House. Then we receive a congratulatory letter from the Commander in Chief! (White House Greetings Office, Room 39, Washington, DC 20500) We've got a letter from George W. Bush for our wedding and a letter from Barack Obama for Khyri's birth. We're still waiting on the letter to welcome Kielle into the world. Another thing that we do to commemorate births is to buy a brick in downtown Smyrna. Buying the bricks supports the Veterans Memorial Association of Smyrna and puts a lasting mark from our family in this city that we love.

Aaaaawwwww where it all began!

Kielle and Khyri!

Of course we are also keeping the traditional keepsakes - locks of hair, first tooth, bronze shoes, etc. But we wanted to try and do something a little different. Its weird to think that one day we'll be sitting around talking to our Grandchildren and showing them our family keepsakes. Who knows I might be talking to my Granddaughter holding my Great Granddaughter on her Christening day - in my heirloom  white christening gown with a little white bow in her hair.

FAMILY PORTRAIT ... WELL SORT OF

Everyone keeps saying "Send me a picture of Khyri and Kielle together"
Waaaaay easier said than done. Take a look.

First attempt - Simple couch photo

          

Finally!

Second attempt - Together on the bed

Khyri is hogging the spotlight

Chalk this up to a loss

   

 Third attempt - Playing on the floor

Khyri looks possessed

Kielle's not happy

Most recent attempt - Mother's Day!  

Surely they will act right on this most special occasion... We tried for a good photo before dinner and after. Keith was sooo patient hahahha

  

 

  

Before Dinner - I guess this will do

 

After Diner - I'll take this!

 We're not picture perfect but we sure have fun ;-)

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A MUNCHKIN MOMMY WHEN...

Mothers Day is this Sunday - YAY! Here is a list of random thoughts I had over a couple of days about being a mommy. I went to the store one day without the munchkins and I thought to myself "I wonder if people can tell I'm a mom?" When I got to the register to pay for my stuff - I pulled out a toy block and a random spoon while trying to find my wallet... yeah they can tell! hahahahahah

You know you're a munchkin mommy when:

• You can't find anything to wear, but your daughter has plenty of outfits at her disposal.
• Even though you don't have cable you somehow know the theme song to Elmo's World and Thomas the Train.
• The first things you pack for a vacation is diapers and sippy cups.
• You've memorized 'Brown Bear', 'The Foot Book', 'Goodnight Moon', and can easily recite them anywhere - over lunch, driving the car, changing a diaper... wherever.
• The cashier at BRU knows your child's favorite snack (yay grapes)
• You know what BRU stands for - Babies "R" Us
• Everyone else's snot is disgusting except your child's - who you easily wipe their nose with the palm of your hand during cold season.
• Cheerleader is your middle name. Everything deserves a clap from crawling to walking to talking - geesh even burping ;-)
• You go from a loving your Sentra to feeling comfortable in your Camry to needing a Highlander.
• At first you only use the cutesy burp cloths, then you quickly realize that anything can be used as a burp cloth - shirts, towels, socks...
• You know the location of the restroom in every store you go in - and you know which ones have the cleanest changing stations.
• Pacifiers and sippy cups are strategically placed around the house for easy access - but you can't find some lip gloss or chapstick to save your life.
• You hawk the children websites waiting for the free shipping deals.
• After having a few too many 'fall outs' in restaurants, you now put in your child's food order as soon as the waiter comes and asks "What would you like to drink?".
• Black Friday in addition to including the standard stores now has Toys "R" Us on the list.
• You trade in art museums for childrens museums.
• You dread the day when your child recognizes the horrible yellow M and that happy meal.
• Milk was never a staple in your house - now its Armageddon if you're down to half a gallon. 
• Exercise?!!? huh?!?! Does running after/chasing/tracking down a toddler count? 
• You start squirreling away change weekly to help pay for college - even though you know its gonna cost your house literally to pay for college when they're grown.

Add your own "you knows" in the comments section!

ADVENTURES IN CLOTH DIAPERING

As if life isn't hectic enough, I've decided to try my hand at cloth diapering. Now before I get started let me just say this: Cloth diapering (CDing) has come a LONG way... no more pins and folding (unless you want to). Today's cloth diapers are simple to use, easy to wash, and cheap on the wallet!

I'm lucky to have a fellow clothie - my friend Latrice to experiment and learn with. Together we have researched, diapers, diaper creams, pail liners, diaper sprayers, wet bags, etc. There is definitely a lot to learn, but its all interesting and I feel like I'm doing my small part to help the environment. Plus - its cool. Cloth diapers come in so many cute colors and patterns :-)

Most people know bumGenius cloth diapers - but there are so many others. Major retail stores are starting to carry some different diaper brands now. At Babies R Us you can find G Diapers, Target.com carries Kushies, Fuzzibuns, and their own brand Trend Lab. Even Bed Bath and Beyond is in the game selling the Bummis brand and of course Amazon.com has every single brand you can think of. My source so far for diapers has been independent stores such as Cottonbabies, Kelly's closet, Nicki's Diapers, and Diaper Junction. I have also bought a few new diapers off Ebay.

This is my first stash shot. I started out with only 6 bumGenius diapers. I naively thought this would get me through a day.. hahahah NOT.

These are All in Ones (AIO). They have a liner inside so there is no stuffing needed. If I want a little extra protection I can add another liner. This particular bumGenius style 3.0 came in sizes. The greens are larges for Khyri and the yellows are mediums for Kielle. *crossing fingers* hopefully Khyri will be potty training soon so I bought fewer larges for him. I still use these, but man have I come a long way....

Here is my current stash shot:

I now have 28 diapers of different colors, types and brands! My stash consists of bumGenius, Fuzzibuns, Kawaii, Happy Heinys, Blueberrys, EcoBritches, and BestBottoms. Most of them are pocket diapers - meaning I have to stuff the liner into the diaper shell. Trust me its not as time consuming as it sounds ahahah. I like the pockets because they take a shorter time to dry since they are separate from the shell. Except for my bumGenius 3.0s all of the other diapers are one size. They adjust using snaps in the front to fit a little one from 8lbs up to 35lbs. They are not a trim fit - especially on Kielle right now, but its more economical to buy one size. On Khyri, the one size fits really nicely. I think I need to get my stash up to about 30 to comfortably be able to CD the two munchkins full time. Of course Khyri will still use disposables at daycare - they are not having it! hahahaha, but at home I'm gonna CD as much as possible.

Kielle goes through about 8 or 9 diapers a day and Khyri about 5, so I need to do laundry every other day. Now for some that might be a deal breaker, but for me, Kahlillah Aisha Dotson Mosley - LOVES IT! ahahhaha laundry is my absolute favorite... I know I'm a weirdo. For some reason it is very relaxing for me.


 Anywho, back to diapering... I've been psyching myself up to use cloth diapers for an outing and I finally did it Wednesday 4.27 when we went to the park. I've been nervous about carrying around dirty diapers. So to prepare, I ordered what is called a wet bag. Its a cloth bag on the outside, but the inside is lined with a plastic that locks in moisture and smell.I changed Khyri and Kielle at the park and the wet bag worked perfectly. I didn't smell anything. When I got home, I transferred the dirty dipes into the larger wet bag that I keep near the laundry.

Speaking of laundry, I have learned a lot about what is in different laundry detergents. For CDs we have to use detergent that does not have any fragrance,  dyes, enzymes, or brighteners. We use Charlie's Soap to wash our diapers and so far its working ok. I did have some ammonia issues around week two, but I just put a 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar in the prewash and that got rid of the stinkies. Oh yeah - prewash... so the laundering of the diapers is a little more intensive than normal clothes. after all these fabrics are going on sensitive baby parts. Here's my routine:

Prewash with cold water
Wash with hot water
Cold Rinse
Cold Rinse

The second cold rinse is the mot important step. This ensures that all of the detergent is washed out. After washing, I toss the liners in the dryer if I need them right away, or if its a sunny day, I hang them on the drying rack and stick them outside. Here's a picture of the drying rack before I put it in the backyard.


So far Kielle and Khyri both seem to enjoy the new diapers. Khyri hasn't noticed the difference. I can't wait to put Kielle in the patterned ones under her dresses!

*update* I got some fluff mail!! I forgot that I had ordered some more diapers last week and they arrived finally. This batch had awesome patterns.

more dipes and another small wet bag

hearts and polka dots!

So now my stash looks like this all put away - pretty much complete:

I went to target to buy the Up&Up diapers for Khyri to use at daycare. A box of 82 size 4 diapers costs $14.99 - each diaper costs 18 cents. So I did some quick math to make the comparison:
Khyri uses 5 diapers a day, let's say there are 30 days in the month. So Khyri would use 5 x 30 = 150 diapers a month. Multiply that by .18 and we get $27.00. If we multiply the $27 by 12 months we get $324 per year. Keep in mind that this is for a toddler who has more control of his water than an infant. With Kielle also in diapers, the $324 cost is doubled (assuming that she uses only 5 diapers a day which is SO not the case), so that's $648 per year.

So far I've spent about $375 on cloth diapers. Most of the diapers range between $9.95 and $18.95. I only order from sites with free shipping, so that helps to keep the cost down. I also order seconds or slightly imperfect diapers. Its a high initial investment up front, but if I launder these correctly they should last until Kielle is potty trained and maybe even for baby Mosley #3! ahahhaa

We'll see how this experiment goes.

For more information on Cloth Diapering, take a look at this post by a fellow clothie:
http://www.exposuresbynoel.com/ClothDiapering/

'NIGHT NIGHT' - BIG BOY STYLE

So for the past couple of weeks, Khyri has been playing the role of Houdini and escaping from his crib. At first Keith and I were surprised. You'd hear Thump... Rumble Rumble Rumble... and then he'd come busting into our room. Sad to say, we're now used to getting wake up calls in the early morning.

One recent Tuesday, I opened my eyes to see Khyri standing at the edge of my bed eating grapes and watching me sleep. To top it off, he had turned on the television - the morning news was on. Are you serious?!?! Clearly it was time to move him from his crib into a big boy bed.

The pressure was on to find a bed. I've always wanted him to have a bunk bed so we focused on finding one that would fit in our small, cramped, tiny house and could be separated into two beds if needed. I searched for about 2 weeks. I couldn't decide if we wanted a twin on top of twin or a twin on top of full.

We found what we were looking for surprisingly at Wally World aka Walmart. It was the right price and got great reviews. We had it shipped to store to save on delivery charges and got a friend to help us transport the bed to the house. We got all three boxes into the house and they sat in the hallway for awhile... I mean this is a big step - no more little Khyri...psychologically we weren't ready to put the bed together.. haahaha.  This past Sunday, Keith woke up with gusto and put together the bed -  it took all day, but it looks great!

Its a twin over full cherry wood bed. We decided to go with the full since we already had a full mattress from the guest bed that was in the room before. We didn't assemble the ladder - hopefully that will keep him off the top bunk for awhile. For now the top serves as storage - lords knows we need the extra space!



 
He seems to like the bed so far. The hardest time is nap time. He just doesn't stay in the bed until he literally falls out from exhaustion. Most of the time he's playing and roaming around the room. I've started moving things out of the room so he would have less distraction.

The lego blocks were this first toys to come OUT of the room for naptime

Night time is ok. After we do the whole routine - bath, story, brushing teeth, etc he'll calm down a bit. The past two days its taken about 4 to 5 "Khyri head down - time for night night" repeats before he finally went to sleep. Tonight, however, he is back in the crib with the special "Mosley lockdown" (due to possible Child Protective Services issues I can't share my technique hahahahhha). He decided that at 10:30pm he wanted to be wide awake AND try to slip under the gate to get free so I had to nip it in the bud.

So... this big boy bed thing is still a work in progress. The plan is to fully transition him to the bunk bed by June and then move Kielle into the room too in the crib. We've started getting her used to the crib by putting her in there for naps when Khyri is in daycare two days a week. She seems fine in there. Especially since she's found her soothing technique - her thumb!

While we transition - don't fret, Khyri will still have plenty to climb on... his new one is climbing up onto the changing table. I came in the room and found him up on top with his toys. *sigh* boys will be boys...

How did he get up there?!?!

He's growing up too fast for me. First a bunk bed, next a college dorm room... arrrgghh!