Sweet Slumber

My girl hadn't napped all day. That's not good for her or her Mama. We went to story-time as usual this morning with no napping in the car or at home. So this afternoon when the temperature read 50 degrees, I grabbed our winter attire and jogging stroller and hit the street. About 5 minutes later...a sweet slumber. Success.

Posted from my iPhone

Merry Christmas Morning

We had a lovely Christmas morning at our home. We always travel to visit family for the holidays, but I love spending the morning at our house. It is a special moment for our family of three.  Emilia was bigger this year, and I couldn’t wait to see her smiling face when she opened her gifts.

Emilia sitting at her new table from Santa.



Taking her Bitty Baby for a ride in her new shopping cart.



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We enjoyed a homemade breakfast casserole and hot chocolate.



As well as Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles, Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies, and Peppermint White Chocolate covered Pretzel Crisps for the road. Yeah, I enjoyed way to many sweet treats this season, but doesn’t everyone. It’s the most wonderful time of the year!



I hope your Christmas morning was as merry and bright as ours. I hope your New Year is just as wonderful.

'Tis the Season

We’ve been going to Southern Lights at the Kentucky Horse Park for years. It’s a wonderful display of holiday lights, as well as other family activities. This year we wanted to take Emilia for the first time. She enjoyed the lights, but the petting zoo was the best we’ve seen. This girl loves animals.



My favorite – Churchill Downs.


I love the squealing noise she makes when petting animals. Her smile warms my heart.


Our little Elf – Ha!


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Chris and I took a mini trip to Chicago, last weekend. We drove North to attend a Christmas party, and had the opportunity to spend a little time shopping in the city. It was great to spend time, just the two of us. We enjoyed catching up on our favorite podcasts in the car. I had time to read. Also, we could carry on a conversation over a glass of wine at the hotel bar without any toddler talk. Nice.



I admired the American Girl store windows, the first night we were there. I couldn’t wait until it opened the next day. All the little girls were so excited picking out their dolls and accessories to go with them. I was equally happy to purchase a Bitty Baby doll for my girl. It made me tear up a bit. I would have loved to pick out my own doll, when I was a little girl. I can’t wait to see Emilia open her gift.


We woke up to falling snow. It really put me in the Christmas spirit. This photo was taken through our hotel window after it was steamed a bit from the shower.



We went to Macy’s, previously Marshall Field’s, to see the holiday window displays.


A stop at Millennium Park to see the Cloud Gate. It’s mirror-like surface provides reflection. So we took a couple of photos. Actually, Chris was the photographer while we were there.



A classic holiday activity.


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Now, I have so much to do before the end of the week. I’m feeling under the weather, I have to wrap all our gifts, and I still have lots of Christmas goodies to prepare. I gotta get in gear. Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Cloth Diapering

Before Emilia was born I did a lot of research on diapers. I knew that disposing of them was unkind to the environment. So, I wanted to make a difference as much as I could. I researched cloth as well as earth friendly disposables. I discovered:

• Disposable diapers are the third most common consumer product in landfills today.
• A disposable diaper may take up to 500 years to decompose.
• One baby in disposable diapers will contribute at least 1 ton of waste to your local landfill.
• There are chemicals in disposables that are not always good for your baby or the environment.
• The average cost of disposable diapers for one child is $1600 or $66/month.

The thought of using cloth diapers overwhelmed me. It seemed like it would be a lot of work. I talked to a couple of friends who were using them and they reassured me that it was simple. I knew I wanted to give it a try but I wanted to start slow. So, when Emilia was a newborn we began using Seventh Generation disposables, which are free of chlorine processing. They are also free of fragrances, latex, and petroleum-based lotions. A few months later, we purchased a dozen FuzziBunz cloth diapers. We haven’t looked back. We always use the cloth diapers whenever we are home and use the earth friendly disposables when we are are away from home. I’m so glad I made this decision. It is easy to use the cloth diapers, and I love knowing that we are being kind to the environment as well as our baby's bottom. It saves us money too. Not to mention, Emilia looks so darn cute wearing them!






I purchased our cloth diapers from Cotton Babies. There you will find more information on cloth diapering. You may also find local cloth diapering information at Mother Nurture. If interested you can stop by for a demonstration. Also, feel free to leave me a question or comment.

Gymboree

Emilia loves to explore through song, dance, games, and instruments. This week at Gymboree music class she was introduced to Disco music. I actually had as much fun as she did. The music really got us moving! This girl loves to shake her groove thing.



A little scarf play to “Workin' at the Car Wash”.


She always enjoys the wave drums and balls.


Miss Sarah is great.


An extra special treat – the parachute in music class!  Clapping to “We Are Family”.


Emilia’s favorite – the bubbles!


Gymbo joined in too.

One for One

We love our Toms. I really love the whole idea of these shoes. Toms is a company that matches every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Many children in developing countries grow up barefoot. These children are at risk for diseases. Emilia has so many shoes that she has never even worn. It is sad to think there are children who don’t even own one pair of shoes. So, after purchasing a pair for myself, I bought a pair for her birthday. I encourage you to check out the website. There you will find lots of shoe styles for the whole family, more information about One for One, as well as their blog. These shoes make great gifts, so consider giving them this Christmas season. Did I mention how comfortable they are? Seriously, you may never want to wear anything else again! 

Emilia meets Cousin Cooper

When I heard my sister-in-law and best friend Amanda was pregnant, I was so happy and excited. It’s such a blessing to have a child. Now we have another in the family, and we love him so much. Cooper was born 11/4/11. Emilia was born 10/4/10. Pretty cool, I think! They are exactly thirteen months apart. Chris and I went to meet our beautiful baby nephew in the hospital the day he was born. Emilia met him Sunday. It was a sweet moment.