Our Second Anniversary

"Every long lost dream led me to where you are. Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars pointing me on my way into your loving arms. This much I know is true: that God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you." ~Rascal Flatts

We had those lyrics printed on the back of the bulletin on our wedding day on February 14, 2009. Chris isn't a country fan, but even he couldn't deny that Rascal Flatts nailed it when it came to describing the journey we each traveled before finding each other.

Today is the 2nd anniversary of the day we became the Hall-Smith family. Chris is the most amazing person I have ever known and he is the best thing that has ever happened to Cadence, Gabriel and I. What started as an innocent message about soccer on Myspace, eventually grew into a friendship and then transformed into the greatest love I have ever known.

He is our rock. He is my voice of reason and my constant supporter. He is an amazing father and person. I don't know what I ever did without him.

I've thought about our wedding a lot today. My favorite part was the vow he made to Cadence and Gabriel:

"Cadence and Gabriel, I give you these rings as a symbol of our unity as a family. I promise to be a patient and loving father to you, caring for you and providing for you as my own. I promise to be your strength and emotional support loving you with all my heart forever."

What kind of guy does that!?! Honestly, I didn't think such a man existed. I was wrong and I thank God every day for that.

For our anniversary, I decided I wanted to do something special. I took the day off of work and cooked him dinner. The kids spent the evening with Jon and Christy.

I set the table and placed a calla lily arrangement and two candles in the center. Calla lilies were the flowers that we had at our wedding (although our wedding day flowers were white) and the candles represented each year that we have been married.

I gave Chris a home brew starter kit so he can begin brewing his own beer. He's talked about doing it for years and he seems really excited about it.

I made coconut shrimp with orange marmalade dipping sauce and stuffed mushrooms as appetizers.

Dinner consisted of a mixed greens salad with walnuts, raisins, blueberries, apples and raspberry vinaigrette, fillet mignon topped with lobster tail meat, goat cheese mashed potatoes and sauteed asparagus.

For dessert we had miniature dark chocolate covered cheesecakes with dark chocolate covered strawberries and whipped cream. Also, Christy made us some delicious white chocolate covered strawberries as well.

We had a wonderful evening! :)

Daddy/Daughter Dinner, Cakes and a Surprise!

Last night Chris took Cadence to Chick-fil-a for a Valentine's daddy/daughter dinner. Cadence dressed up in a beautiful dress from Limited Too that I found at a consignment shop for $6.00 and Chris gave her a corsage of pink miniature roses to wear. They dined on chicken nuggets and waffle fries and were waited on by servers wearing tuxes. They had a wonderful time!

While Chris and Cadence were out, Gabriel and I worked on some cakes that I was making for two of my co-workers. We finished them up this afternoon.

We went out to lunch and when we returned we saw our neighbor Ms. Barbara outside. We walked over to say "hello" and to let her see Liam when she said that she had something for us. She went inside and brought out Burberry Teddy Bears for Cadence and Gabriel and cologne and perfume for Chris and I. She also gave us several pretty Burberry trays.

Tomorrow afternoon we are having our family pictures done in Greer Park. I can't wait!!!

The Baby Powder Bomb and Our Upcoming Weekend

Yesterday Gabriel was running a fever so today he is spending the day at Chris's parents house. He is very excited to be having some one-on-one Grandma and Big Jake time.

Last night Cadence and I put together almost sixty valentine's for Cadence, Gabriel and even Liam's classes. After that I sent her upstairs to get ready for bed while I cleaned the kitchen. She came down a few minutes later smelling very strongly of baby powder. I hesitantly followed her upstairs. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something on her bathroom floor. Baby powder. Upon closer investigation, it was also on the bathroom door, sink, toilet and shower curtain. Shower curtain!?! I asked what happened. She said she dropped the bottle of baby powder. My follow-up questions: 1. Why were you holding the baby powder? and 2. Where is the land mine on which you dropped the baby powder? I left her upstairs with a broom and a wet rag and told her she could go to bed after she cleaned the bathroom. I thought kids grew out of this stuff!!

In other news, we have a very busy weekend planned. Tonight Chris is taking Cadence to a father/daughter dinner at Chick-fil-a for Valentine's Day. They are going to have waiters in tuxes, flowers for the girls and a sundae bar. They might even catch a movie after. I will be home with the boys working on some cakes. I'm very excited about the cakes that I'm making and will post pictures later. Chris is working on Saturday so I'll be home with the kiddos finishing up the cakes. On Sunday we *might* be keeping nursery at church and then we are doing family pictures with Anna. We do not have any pictures with all five of us so we are very excited!

We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Why and How We Cloth Diaper

Every three days or so my laundry room looks a lot like this:

Why, you ask? Because today is diaper day. Before Liam was born we made the decision to cloth diaper. We love the idea that there won't be a huge pile of diapers in a landfill for hundreds of years with Liam's name on them; however, that isn't the reason that we are doing it. We are doing it because we are cheap, or as I prefer to call it, frugal. :)

Here is the math:

I used disposable diapers and wipes on Cadence for three and a half years at a cost of approximately $20.00 per week. That comes out to $3,640.00.

I used pull-ups on Cadence every night for another three years at a cost of approximately $10.00 per week. That comes out to $1,560.00

Gabriel skipped the pull-ups at night but also wore diapers for three and a half years at a cost of approximately $20.00 per week. That comes out to $3,640.00

Grand total of using disposable diapers on two kids from infancy through potty training age = $8,840.00

I did not want to repeat that with Liam. I bought a lot of his stuff on sale and traded some of my pocket diapers for more Best Bottoms, but here's the approximate math that it would take to replicate what I have purchased for him:

12 Best Bottom diapers at $16.95 each comes to $203.40

24 small inserts, 10 medium inserts and 36 large inserts at $276.50

Wet/dry bags, wipes and diaper sprayer cost approximately $86.00

One dozen Chinese prefold diapers is $18.00

An average $8.00 per month increased water bill for three and a half years comes to $336.00

Detergent for three and a half years costs approximately $252.00

Grand total for using cloth diapers = $1,171.90

That is a savings of 77% over the cost of using disposable diapers on Cadence and 53% over the cost of using disposable diapers on Gabriel.

Now you know why we do it so let me show you how we do it.

If you ask ten people how to cloth diaper a baby, you will receive ten different answers. Here is my answer:

This is a diaper. It is a far cry from the cloth diapers that our parents put us in, isn't it? There are no pins or rubber pants. Just a diaper with a whole bunch of snaps. The snaps determine the size of the diaper. This particular brand fits a baby from 7lbs to 35lbs depending on how the snaps are set.

Here is an opened diaper shell. The lining of the diaper is made of PUL (polyurethane laminate) fabric. It is waterproof and can be wiped clean.

The insert is the absorbant part of the diaper and is snapped into the diaper shell. It is now ready to go on the baby.

If the baby pees the insert is removed, the liner is wiped down with a cloth wipe and a new insert is placed in the diaper. If the baby poops and the poop makes its way off of the liner and onto the shell the whole diaper is removed and a new diaper shell and liner is put on the baby.

Cloth wipes are much easier to use than disposable wipes. This is because you just toss the wipe into the laundry paid with the dirty diaper. If you were to use disposable wipes, you'd need a trash can along with your diaper paid. Here are our wipes. We have 27 of them. The are made of flannel and are stitched around the edges to prevent fraying. I fold them so that they pop out of an old Pampers wipe case that I used with Gabriel.

Here is our diaper pail. It is a household trash can. We put a reusable diaper pail liner in the can (not pictured as it was being washed at the time). When it is time to do laundry we lift the bag out and dump its contents into the washing machine. Then we toss the bag in too. There is no need to ever touch the dirty diapers.

The diapers do a cold soak and pre-wash. The detergent is then added and they are washed on hot with a double rinse on cold (this is the cause of the slight increase in our water bill). We only use about a tablespoon of detergent during each wash so the detergent goes a long way. Once a month or so we do a special treatment to take care of any stains and to freshen them up.

Breastfed diapers do not require any spraying prior to tossing them in the wash; however, once Liam starts eating homemade baby food his diapers will get pretty gross. Prior to tossing them in the laundry, the poopy ones can be sprayed down with a diaper sprayer. It hooks into the water line to the toilet and hangs on the side of the toilet ready for use.

That is why and how we cloth diaper in a nutshell. William hasn't worn a disposable diaper since he was a week old (yes, we do cloth when we are out too). He has never had diaper rash and has had no more leaks than my other two did in disposables. We love it!

Sick Kids

Last Sunday William woke up with a cough. It got worse on Monday and on Tuesday I took him to the doctor's office where they said that he had RSV. RSV is the virus that can cause bronchitis and pneumonia and most children get it before the age of three. Infants are especially susceptible to it. He was put on an oral steroid once a day and a steroid via nebulizer every four hours as needed. The steroids really helped him and within 36 hours he was sounding much better. He is still coughing here and there, but nothing like he was before.

On Friday morning Cadence started feeling bad. She had a sore throat and a fever. I took her to the doctor and they said it could be a virus but they gave me an antibiotic prescription just in case it continued throughout the weekend or her fever got higher. They told me not to fill it unless she needed it. Last night her fever hit 103 so I filled the prescription and sent it to her Nanny & Papa's house (where Cadence is spending the weekend). Hopefully the antibiotic will help her feel better very soon!

I'm beginning to wonder if, with three kids in the house, we will ever have times when no one is sick!

Cadence's First Report Card

Cadence received her first report card on Monday. Her teacher held conferences in lieu of giving report cards during the first nine weeks. She was "graded" in 32 areas covering the main subjects of Reading, Language Arts, Science, Personal and Social Growth, Mathematics and Social Studies. She received a grade "consistently demonstrates" in 31 of the 32 areas and received a grade of "sometimes demonstrates" in the topic "solves problems in a positive manner" under Personal and Social Growth. She knows that we are going to work on that during the next nine weeks; however, overall we are very proud of her.

Chris and I wanted to do something special for her as a reward for her good report card. Chris was off today so when I got off of work he brought Cadence up to the mall to meet me. We took her to Club Tabby and she received a "Rainbow Rocker Makeover." They painted her nails, did her make-up, gave her rainbow eyelashes and did her hair. She was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. It was great!

After the makeover, we let Cadence pick where she wanted to go for dinner. So, of course, we had dinner at On the Border! :) We had a very fun evening and are VERY proud of her!

Consignment Sales - Friend or Enemy?

Nothing feels quite as awesome as getting a great deal. 80% of all of my children's clothing is used. The remaining 20% was given to us or purchased on sale. I don't think I've ever purchased anything clothing for my kids at retail price. Used clothing is great on the wallet and on the environment.

With the beginning of the new year, we are coming up on the Spring/Summer consignment sales. Specifically, in Greenville there are three major sales approaching: An Angel's Attic - Feb 3-5 (www.smmcc.org), Switch a Roos - Feb 11-13 (www.switcharoosconsignment.com) and Trunk Treasures - March 4-8 and 10-13 (www.trunktreasures.com). If you know of any others, please let me know!

I have a few rules for purchasing items at consignment sales. If followed, consignment sales can be your best friend:

1. Make a list - Consignment sales can be very large and overwhelming. Know what you are looking for. Also, be prepared to spend at least an hour or two there.

2. Purchase items only on that list - It can be very easy to buy something "just because it costs $3." Do that 5 or 6 times and you are quickly going over budget. Don't buy something just because you are "saving" a lot on it. Remember, it isn't about how much you save. It is about how much you spend.

3. Only purchase items on the last day during the 1/2 off sale - It may seem that by waiting the good stuff may be gone, but that isn't true. I have come out of consignment sales with many cute, name-brand outfits on 1/2 off day. Just be prepared to spend a lot of time picking through the racks.

4. Bring cash and do not spend more than the cash that you bring - This will help you stay on budget. Keep a mental tally of how much you are spending in your head and stop when you are within $10 of your budget.

I have purchased entire seasonal wardrobes for all of my children for under $100.00. Cadence wears everything from Target brand to Limited Too. Gabriel has Tommy Hilfiger jeans and Gap tops. William wears mostly Carter. All of their clothing has been purchased for 70-90% less than retail.

Consignment shops are another great resource; however, I usually buy clothing there in the off-season to get the items on sale. I sell my children's clothing at a local consignment shop and use the money I make for in-store credit.