Pink Dragon

 

I have a new nickname.

 

Way back in March during the week of Spring Break, my mother in law and youngest brother in law took Xavier on a 'date' to see the movie "How to Train Your Dragon". Since that day, he has been a boy obsessed. He talks about dragons, pretends he's a dragon, and he now has to take his toy dragon to bed with him each night. I find it rather adorable, especially when he starts talking to me about himself as a dragon. A few weeks ago, we were having one such conversation and he was telling me about how he was a black dragon.

He had black wings, and a black tail, and he breathed fire. And then he looked at me and asked, ever so innocently, "Mom....are you a dragon too?" 

 

"Why yes, Xavier," I replied. "I'm a PINK dragon! With purple spots and a blue tail!" 

 

He found this rather amusing and after a few minutes we stopped talking about dragons and he went back to playing in his room. Later that afternoon, while Shaela and Cohen napped, he was watching a movie while I did some work on the computer in the basement. About half an hour into the kids' nap, he came half way down the basement stairs, turned to face me and said, "Pink Dragon - I need a snack! Please come upstairs with me, Pink Dragon."

 

I just about died I laughed so hard. I love that boy and his wild imagination!

 

Adventures in Cloth

A few months ago, Jared and I decided to put a ban on disposable diapers in our house and switch to cloth. We have talked about doing it for a very long time. Jared for environmental reasons. Me for cost effectiveness. However, with Jared being a student, we weren't able to afford the initial start up cost of doing cloth with Xavier and Shaela - it was just easier for us at the time to spend $30-$40 a month on disposables. However, at the Baby and Kids show in February, there was a cloth diapering store that had a booth there. And so, we ventured over to talk to one of the sales reps and get our million and one questions answered.

You see, cloth diapering is no longer the flannel pre-folds with pins and wet pants that our parents used back in the day. You can still get those kinds of cloth - although they have improved the fastening methods since then, so for those who are worried about poking their babies, you don't have to use pins anymore. But it seems there are a hundred and one OTHER kinds of cloth diapers available now as well - All in Ones, All in Two's, Pocket Diapers, Pre-Folds. And then there are the various kinds of inserts - microfibre, hemp, cotton. Which ones are best? What brand should you try? It can be VERY overwhelming for anyone who wants to try out cloth diapers these days to know where to start.

After a very long conversation with the girls at the booth and a little convo on the side between the two of us about which kind we thought would be best, we took the plunge and scored a deal on a 'start up' package at the show. We came home only to realize that we had forgotten one of the bags at the show! So I had to wait a few days for the store to be open to pick up the forgotten items....and when I came home I went straight to the basement to start washing the diapers in preparation for their first use!

We are now about three months in with Shaela and loving it! Cohen was in disposables for the first two weeks of his life until his cord fell off (and to avoid getting meconium stains on our pretty cloth diapers) but for the past month, he has also been in cloth. His little legs were so tiny at first that we ended up with a few blowouts those first two weeks. But now that he's chubbed out a bit, they are working GREAT to contain even the biggest of poos! 

All in all, it has been a very wise decision on our part. We are saving a ton of money on disposables and I'm loving the variety of colours with the covers we have - I can mix and match to coordinate with the kids' outfits! It's loads of fun! 

*To learn more about cloth diapering, and to see which ones we use (the All-in-2's), check out: www.ampdiaperstore.com*

Just Call Me "Soccer Mom"!

Soccer is pretty much going to be a given in our household, whether our children like it or not. Jared comes from a long line of soccer players and even played on our university team for a year (it would have been two had he not rolled his ankle two days before try-outs in our first year! But that's a whole other story....). So, now that Xavier is finally of soccer playing age, there was no question that we would enroll him in a spring session. Jared visited our local community center about a month and a half ago and we finally heard back two weeks ago that the season started on the 3rd! We were very excited for this milestone in our son's life - and he couldn't stop talking about his first game all weekend!

That night we ate a quick supper and got dressed and ready to go before piling in the van with lawnchairs and the stroller. We were one of the first ones to arrive and unfortunately, our coach was nowhere to be seen. The field that we were at was huge (two full sized fields back to back, which meant enough room for 4 games for kids this age). There ended up being six teams there altogether, and thankfully our coach finally showed up! After introductions and handing out the snack schedule, they got started! Jared got roped into helping the kids practice for a few minutes at the start (which he loved!). And then they played! Our team is pretty large, so Xavier only got a couple turns out on the field, but he had an absolute blast chasing the ball around! He doesn't quite get the concept of the game yet, but I'm sure after a few more nights, he'll be getting in there and going for the ball with gusto.

As for me, I am now officially a soccer mom and expcept for the fact that it's prime woodtick season and I HATE those things! - I am really looking forward to heading to the soccer field twice a week for the next two months.

It's Officially Official!

Well, my wonderful husband is now OFFICIALLY a social work graduate! He was technically done back in October when he received his diploma from his school - but unfortunately, it's a small school and they don't have a ceremony then. Just one in April. Booth College Grad 2010 was held on the weekend of April 23rd-25th. Jared took a half day off on Friday to pick up his gown and go to rehearsal. Saturday evening was the banquet and Jared and I took Cohen along. Jared's mom also joined us and we enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken, carrots, green beans and mashed potatoes. Dessert was also delicious!

Then on Sunday came the actual ceremony where Jared walked the stage in his gown and was hooded and all that other good stuff. Even though he's been done since October and working full time since December, I still got a little teary-eyed watching him up at the front of the church. It was a long 4 years that got us to where we are today and I'm so proud of him!

 Our supper

 Dessert! It was sooo yummy!

Getting hooded.

So funny - Xavier fell asleep about 10 minutes into the ceremony, so he completely missed everything! At least he was quiet!