Jesus Loves Me

If this doesn't melt your heart and crack you up, I don't know what will! :) LOVE my sweet little man!

Micah singing "Jesus Loves Me" at dinner ~

What do you think of when...

...you see a 2 year old running around with a big, fluffy bottom?


We started using cloth diapers back in October, and we LOVE them! No more realizing we're out of diapers as we're getting the kids ready for bed, no more contributing to landfills with stinky diapers, very few...if any... blowouts, and (believe it or not) we're saving money by not buying disposables every few weeks. The thing that took me the longest to get used to was the kids' big, fluffy bums. Cloth diapers are considerably poofier than disposables, so the boys definitely have "bubble butts"... which can make getting pants on and off a bit challenging. But, it's worth it to not have to run to Walmart at the last minute to buy diapers when we've run out. :)


So... what do you think of when you see a 2 year old running around with a big, fluffy bottom? Aaron thinks of "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" (which I didn't realize was a song by Trace Adkins until recently! I don't listen to a lot of country music). It's actually a fairly offensive song about a woman's behind, so I won't post the lyrics, but the title is definitely appropriate to describe my kids' bums in their diapers. But, they don't seem to mind their big bottoms...extra padding for when they fall down, I guess... and we're doing a little bit to help the environment. Plus the diapers are SUPER cute! :)

**Note ~ these pictures are some of the first ones I took of the boys in their cloth diapers, and while their bums are VERY fluffy, I still need to get some better pictures to really give you the full experience of the "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" :) Stay tuned. :)

Cankles

It's no secret that I've had big babies. Micah was 8 lbs., 14 oz. (born 11 days early), and Caleb was a whopping 10 lbs., 10 oz.! Both have tapered off in their growth now though, and fall right smack in the middle of the spectrum for both height and weight. But, they have cankles. Micah's legs are slimming down now that he never stands still for more than a few seconds at a time, but Caleb's feet just kind of go right into his calves, making it VERY difficult to keep socks on him. So I put my sewing machine to good use, thanks to a DIY tutorial I found on Pinterest, (link here) and made Caleb some slippers to wear that not only stay on his feet (as long as he doesn't yank them off) but help keep his socks on as well!

I made a few pairs, as they are super easy, and even tried adjusting the pattern to make some for Micah. (those didn't work out as I'd hoped... I think I need to make the toe piece wider to be able to get his foot in it) But Caleb has gotten some good use out of them, and since I already had the material for 2 of the 3 pairs I've made, this was a super inexpensive project.

Modeling his Elmo slippers (and looking exhausted!) ~



The "collection" ~

My first pair ~ Elmo


Second pair came from one of Aaron's old t-shirts ~


Third pair (my attempt to adjust the pattern for Micah's feet) was some leftover material from another project ~

Aaron has even asked me to make him some... we'll see if I can make that happen though, since my first attempt at altering the pattern was a flop. :)

Such a big boy!!

Our friends, Kim and Jonathan, have a beautiful daughter who turned one on March 2. We were blessed to be able to celebrate her birthday with them, and while it was so much fun to see their sweet Nora on her birthday (well, actually the day after), it blew my mind to think that in just 3 short months (less now) we'll be celebrating Caleb's 1st birthday!! Where has the time gone?? Caleb is getting so big and growing up so fast! I think it's safe to say he's making the transition from "baby" to "little boy"... and he is ALL boy! :)

Already a fan of watching the garbage man do his job ~

He has been crawling since about 7 1/2 months old, and started pulling himself up to standing not long after that. Now, he cruises along the furniture pretty quickly, and will let go and just stand by himself for a while too. AND he took a few steps the other day!! I could be wrong, but I'm guessing he'll be walking full-time pretty soon. :) But if he isn't, he gets around pretty quickly by crawling or bear-walking! (on his hands and feet with his butt up in the air... quite a funny sight, actually) :)

9 month picture with the elephant ~

He got his first hair cut a few weekends ago, thanks to my cousin Traci, and was such a big boy!! He sat in the chair all by himself, and was quite content to look around and let Traci trim the wings off the sides of his head. :) (both of our boys look like they're going to have mommy's curls... or some sort of them... sorry guys!)

He looks so little with that gigantic cape on! :)

Such a big boy!

Aaron took the boys for a ride in the bike trailer the other day, and they loved it! Micah wasn't too impressed with the bike trailer last year, but maybe if Caleb is in there too, we'll get some bike rides in this summer. :)


Aaron just downloaded a few songs by Trace Adkins, one of which is called "You're Gonna Miss This". And for as often as I find myself wishing the 'bad' days would go a little bit faster I know the words to this song are true ~

"You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this"

These ARE some good times and we're loving (almost) every minute of it. :) I think we'd say we love every minute of it if the boys, well... Caleb mostly... were sleeping through the night. But this too shall pass... right? :) We have been blessed with some precious boys and every day (even those preceded by sleepless nights) is a gift to treasure!

Fishing!

I never thought I'd ever say this, but I love Bass Pro Shops! I love camping and the outdoors as much as anyone, maybe more, but that's not necessarily why I love Bass Pro Shops. They come up with some GREAT things for kids to do... and best of all, they're FREE! :) We've gotten the kids pictures taken with Santa there for the last 2 years, and just last weekend Pops and I took the boys fishing there. (well, Caleb didn't do any fishing, but he seemed fairly interested in the whole ordeal) I honestly don't know who had more fun... Micah or Pops! :)

Here they are ... waiting and watching ~


Short break for a smile (at least from Pops... Micah was pretty focused) ~


We got one!
(look just below my dad's hand, and follow Micah's gaze)

Micah really liked looking at the BIG fish in the tank at the center of the store... Pops wanted to know if they could bring the fishing poles over there ~

Here's a short video of their big catch!

What a FUN way to spend the afternoon! Thanks for joining us, Pops!

Blue Harbor Resort weekend

A few weekends ago, we packed up the boys and headed to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, for a weekend with Aaron's family. We stayed at the Blue Harbor Resort, and had a blast playing in the gigantic indoor waterpark they have there. Our boys LOVE the water, which is a good thing, because I don't think we would have had much fun (or even gone) there if they were afraid of it! :)

We all stayed in one room, which was ... interesting. I felt bad the whole weekend because Caleb still wasn't sleeping through the night at that point, and Micah woke up a few times too (probably because he was in a new place and wasn't sure where mommy and daddy were). And since the kids were up, I'm guessing the rest of the family was too...at least for the few minutes it took us to quiet them back down again. So, to the rest of the Klingenmaier family, my apologies for the lack of sleep that weekend! Next time, we'll get our own room. :)

But despite the lack of sleep, I think we all had fun. Micah went down the small kids slide about a hundred times... I literally had to drag him away when he started really staggering back to the side of the pool and up the stairs, otherwise I think he would have gone another hundred times! Aaron even took him down one of the big tube slides... which he was not a fan of... but I give the kid credit for trying it! :) Caleb was just content to splash in the shallow water, or be held by one of us in the deeper pools. Aaron sent him down the kids slide to me at one point... I'm not sure he enjoyed that too much, but he had fun too.

Enjoy the pictures! (Tracy has some more posted on her blog, here.)

The Blue Harbor Resort water park ~

Just think... only a few more months and Tracy & Eric will have their own little guy or girl to pose for pictures with! :)

One of Micah's MANY trips down the slide ~

He only needed to be caught a few times before he was ready to go it alone

Back up the stairs for more sliding ~

Here I come!!

Sleepy Caleb snuggling with Grandma ~

Splashing in the water after I dragged him away from the slide

And a few videos for your enjoyment ...

Going down the slide ~

Lookout below!!

All in all, it was a wonderful (though exhausting!) weekend with the family. The boys had a ball in the water, and it was great to have that time with Aaron's family. Thanks for the fun and for the memories! :)

Sew Much Fun!

Aaron gave me a sewing machine for Christmas this year, and I have been having so much fun with it! I'm VERY new to the art of seeing, and with the exception of a few brief 'lessons' from my mom, I'm pretty much figuring this out as I go. So far...so good, I'd say. :)

I started out with a project I found on Pinterest - a fishing game for Micah. I made the fish out of felt, and sewed Velcro on for the eyes. The hardest part of this project (and by extension, any sewing project) was turning the fish right side out after sewing them. But, with a little patience and the help of the eraser side of a pencil, I accomplished that feat. I haven't finished the pole for the game yet, but that's on my 'to do' list, and Micah's pretty creative... he's found lots of ways to play with the fish by themselves. In fact, I couldn't find them for about 2 weeks because he had packed them in his suitcase! :) Project #1 - SUCCESS! :)


My next project might have been a bit ambitious for a beginner, but I made diaper covers for the boys. Joann's has an entire aisle with everything you need to make cloth diapers, so I got the material (PUL, or Poly Urethane Laminate - a waterproof fabric), some fold over elastic, some Velcro, and a book with step-by-step instructions and pictures, and set to work. They aren't perfect by any means, but they're functional, and Micah really likes the dinosaur print! Project #2 - SUCCESS!! :)

I went with an easier project for my third try - cloth wipes. I found a tutorial online for DIY cloth wipes using receiving blankets. Heaven knows we had plenty of those lying around, and since they weren't being used I cut them into squares and sewed them together to make double thick wipes. Project #3 - SUCCESS!! (and sew easy!) ;)


Project #4 has been the most rewarding project so far, and only because they came out looking the best. :) I made fleece soakers for the boys. (for those of you who have no idea what a fleece soaker is, it's an additional protective cover used over diapers...and goes on like underpants) I had a few yards of fleece at home from a Christmas project I did, so another bonus to this is that it didn't cost anything more. :) I have to say that it's amazing how easy it is to find instructions for things on the internet. I found a free pattern and instructions, and if you're interested in making one yourself, check out this site. Again, this was very easy and took very little time to complete. (I made 2 in a few hours, and I have 2 kids demanding a lot of my attention.) :) Project #4 - SUCCESS! :)

Since I had no idea what I was doing when I purchased the material for the diaper covers, I bought WAY more of the PUL fabric than I needed. Good thing there are a LOT of things that can be made with it! :) Project #5 was reusable snack bags. I had received a few of these from a friend after Micah was born, and we love them, so I thought I'd try making some of my own. Once again, I found a DIY tutorial for the bags and set to work. They were pretty easy to make, and I'd say project #5 was another SUCCESS! :)

My most recent project was a gift for a friend who is expecting her first baby. I made a nursing cover for her. Another great find through internet searching , and fairly inexpensive to make...especially if you consider the fact that these things are sold in stores for $30 or more! Free step-by-step instructions can be found here. I don't have a picture of this project, but I have plans to make a few more before long, so I'll snap a few pics of those. :) Project #6 - SUCCESS! :)

None of these projects came out perfect when they were completed, but the moral of the story is I'm enjoying my Christmas present immensely, and look forward to learning more and getting better with practice! :)