Easter

Brooke and Brent (cousins) are pregnant and expecting in September. Sierra, Simon and Soarah...the Tamminga Great-Grandkids

The Kids' Easter Baskets : )

Parkinsons Unity Walk in NYC

I'm going to NYC to see my sister walk in the walk to support Parkinsons research at the end of April. My parents will be there as well. If anyone out there wishes to donate to the cause in my dad's (or someone else you know) honor the link to Erins site is HERE. I'm excited to head to NYC again and hang out for 5 days without my kiddies : )

Nap Transition

So both kids are going through weird sleep changes right now. Sierra doesn't care for her morning nap right now...so she just cries when I try to put her down. Sometime she still needs the sleep though I think 'cause otherwise she is a crab apple. AND Simon doesn't want to take a nap at all anymore. I was not prepared for him giving up naps. I thought he would go a little longer yet at least. He went from taking 3 hour afternoon naps to NOTHING! He does go to bed better at night now, but he is still in that weird stage in between too where he gets tired now around 5:00 or so and then crabby because he didn't get a nap but he plays and is in a great mood up until that point. hmmmmmmmmm.

Bathtime

It has always been a favorite of both kids to hop into the bath. When I start running the water I can hardly get there clothes off fast enough as they are both trying to climb in as fast as they can. I thought this pic was kind of cute, and I just about fell over that I got a picture where they are both looking at the camera and smiling. They must have been feeling sick : )

Butterflies at Meijer Gadens

Marianne took us to see the butterflies this past Saturday. It was a lot of fun and both kids really liked seeing the butterflies. I was surprised Sierra even noticed them but she really did, she liked to watch them fly around. Simon liked checking out the butterflies, but he also really got into the couple little birds that were walking around and the water running through the room.

Sierra's Hair...

First of all it is getting longer and thicker which is great, I'm super excited for her to keep bows and pigtails in it (hopefully someday when she doesn't IMMEDIATELY grab everything out). BUT she is honestly the messiest kid I have ever met. She needs a bath after every meal and sometime in between too. Here are a couple of pics of what her hair looks like on an average day after lunch : )

LULU

Simon and Sierra met the new Tamminga (tim and denise) puppy, LULU, on Friday. They both really liked her but Simon was so excited he could hardly stand still. He scared the puppy half to death jumpy around her and screaming : ) He also discovered she liked it when he shared his fluffy with her. SOOOO the kids went to see her today again and gave her her very own PINK fluff!

Wool Longies

Here are my first two attempts at wool longies. I think they turned out pretty cute...but we will see how they really work. I have to lanolize them before they will work as diaper covers. Hope your not sick of cloth diapering info. 'cause here is some more. The wool, when lanolin is added back to it, can hold up to about 30% of it's weight in liquid before it will feel wet. So a lot of people use wool covers over their cloth diapers. Also the Lanolin mixes with urine and forms a soap (don't ask me how) so they can be reused and reused up to about a month when they need to washed gently! You just have to use a few pairs and let the used ones dry for a day or two before you use them in rotation again : )

The new FUN thing at our house...

So the kids have always loved getting into my tupperware drawer...and usually drag all the pieces out at least once a day. Simon, however, now prefers one to be his helmet, and hardly has put it down for the last three days...

Diaper Pics...

So we started cloth diapering thinking we were going to experiment on Sierra and not do it with Simon because hopefully he will be potty trained this summer anyway. BUT the diapers ended up fitting him too so lucky him he gets to where a pink one every once in a while : )

DIAPERS...

So far so good...deciding what you like and don't like as far as style of diaper is fairly easy. The prefolds are our least favorite. I really like the fitteds with a cover over top they seem to be the slimmest and then we are also going to use the pocket and all in one styles. Probably those two more for nighttime and they can be a bit bulky. It really is way easier than I thought it was going to be. I just needed to buy that one diaper and actually get started. I just ordered a ton more today at http://www.angeldrydiapers.com/. She is a Michigan mom who makes them, I found her through Hopscotch one of the stores I sell Petunias stuff through. I have really liked her product, just from touch and see comparisons in the store and now using them a few times for ourselves. NOW comes the fun part. I am getting some custom covers done in fun fabrics (I needed that, who wants plain old boring when I can use some of my fabric stash and get it made into custom covers : ) ) And we also need to try out and decide on some of the different fabrics that are out there for the main diaper parts. There is suedecloth and fleece in the all in ones and pockets. We have a suedecloth pocket which seems fine but I ordered a fleece one to try out. And in the fitted there is cotton, hemp and bamboo. We have a hemp one that seems great, it and bamboo are supposed to be VERY absorbent so we are trying a few more hemp ones from a different company that I ordered from as well today. Then we also have to decide if we like snaps, velcro (aplix) or no closure (use a snappi). I think velcro is going to be my choice because it is so adjustable but the hemp one we have in snaps and I ordered another snap one today just to try out ; ) SO that's the new for now. I'll get back to you when I know or have more info. ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE UP FOR TRYING THIS OUT WITH ME???

Walking Sisters...

Watch out Simon. After a few weeks of walking around on her knees (so weird, never seen any other kids do this) Sierra is finally mastering walking around. She is doing great this week although she still crawls around as well. Simon isn't quite sure what to make of this latest developement. He's used to just stealing the toy and running, but now she comes after him : )

Cloth Diapers...

I've been thinking about and wanting to try cloth diapers for a long time now. We finally bought one pocket all in one diaper today. I'm going to start trying that one with Sierra, but I think I already want to try all the others I learned about today too. There are the regular (what I think of as old fashioned) prefold, and fitted ones that have to be used with covers. I also want to get into the wool longies and shorties......super cute....look them up online if you haven't seen them. IF ANYONE OUT THERE USES CLOTH DIAPERS RIGHT NOW AND HAS ANY ADVICE ON WHAT WORKS FOR THEM I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR IT ; )

Thanks Uncle Steve, Aunt Heather, and Cousin Lake for my Minnie outfit!