CONGRATULATIONS

I'd like to say congratulations to everyone who is expecting.  It's so exciting being able to witness such a wonderful event in so many people's lives right now.  With much love, I wish everyone a happy and healthy 9 months (or less for most of you!).  

LOL

Ryan made me literally laugh out loud today when he placed his sippy cup on a coaster on the dining table while he was having breakfast this morning.  :)  It's just amazing what he picks up from us.  For awhile now, he likes to make sure that the door is closed behind him.  I always close the doors around the house to rooms that we won't be going into and he's picked up the habit.  It's funny because I usually close the doors so he won't get into any trouble in the rooms.  Now he always closes the doors so I don't have to.  :)  

He's really good at helping out with chores around the house like the laundry.  He loves every aspect of doing the laundry.  Ryan helps push/pull the laundry basket of clothes into the laundry room, then he helps put the laundry into the washer.  Once it's loaded, he turns the washer on and presses the buttons for the wash settings.  After the washer is done, he helps put the wet clothes into the dryer.  Once the clothes are dried, he helps place them back into the laundry basket and then helps push/pull the laundry basket to either the couch or bedroom for the clothes to be folded.  He's even started to pull out the warm clothes from the basket and gives them to me to fold.  Once the clothes are folded though, it's a complete other story!  Like his blocks, he likes to knock down piles of clothes.  He is only 17 months, so I let it slide most of the time.  :)  

His daily chore is to feed the dogs in the morning after he's done brushing his teeth.  There have been a few mornings that I forget to feed the dogs and he'll walk over to the cabinet with the dog food and pull on the knob to open it.  He scoops up food from the bin and places it in Carrie's bowl (and most of the time he actually makes it to the bowl!).  After Carrie's food is in her bowl, then we'll feed Button off of the floor.  I know it sounds like Button is a second class citizen, but she refuses to eat out of a bowl.  It's the scrappy dog in her.  Ryan likes to pick up the bits of dog food and hand feed Button.  If she doesn't feel like eating or won't eat from him, he'll take the food to Carrie who is always eager for more.  

All I can say is that life with Ryan is never boring!  

There's So Much on the To Do List...

But I don't feel like doing any of it because I want to blog about my newest obsession...cloth diapers.  Yes, you read that right, I have turned into a cloth diapering mama.  I think that if I knew more about it before having Ryan Lion that I would have given it more consideration back then, but I thought it meant prefolds and diaper pins.  Luckily, the world of cloth diapering has changed dramatically and now I'm addicted.  

I guess I should start off at the beginning.  We've been using Huggies exclusively on Ryan almost since day one.  We tried different types of Huggies, Pampers, Seventh Generation and some store brands, but mostly it's been Huggies.  We never had problems with the Huggies.  Ryan barely had any blow outs, leaks or diaper rashes.  One day at the park I was talking to another mom and she said that she used Seventh Generation.  I went home and looked them up and they seemed like a good option to try out, so I went to Whole Foods.  They didn't have Ryan's size, so I ended up picking up a box of gDiapers instead.  I didn't really know what I was buying, but I figured Whole Foods was selling it, so it had to be a fairly decent product (yes, I know, faulty logic!).  

The gDiaper system consists of a soft microfiber outer shell and a plastic liner that holds an absorbable disposable insert.  The insert doesn't contain any plastic, so you can flush it, compost it, or just toss it in the trash.  The inserts kept on bunching up and I'm really not a fan of the plastic liner, but I really liked the cloth outer shell.  The inserts are also really pricey at almost $0.50 per insert, so I figured that if I could find a re-useable insert, then I'd be happy with that system.  I bought some Cottonwood Baby inserts, but I found them to be really bulky and not very absorbent.  Since I liked the cloth outer shell so much, I figured that it would make the most sense to try out cloth diapers.  Cloth diapers have the fabric outer shells, no icky plastic and I wouldn't have to buy disposable inserts.  

The information about cloth diapers is overwhelming.  I didn't necessarily know what I wanted, so I went with a diaper sampler package.  I knew that I didn't want to go the prefold/fitted route, so I went straight to all-in-one (AIO) and pocket diapers.  AIO diapers are exactly like disposables.  The absorbent layer is sewn into the diaper and when it's soiled, you just toss it into a dry pail to be washed.  Pocket diapers contain a pocket between the waterproof outer layer and soft inner layer that touches the baby.  You can fill the pocket with an absorbent material like microfiber, hemp, or a hemp/cotton combination.  AIOs are really easy to use, but pocket diapers allow you to adjust absorbency which is great for a heavy wetter like Ryan.  Yes, I learned that Ryan was a heavy wetter the hard way!  

I got a sampler package from Simple Wonders.  The one I got came with a Happy Heinys one size, Happy Heinys pocket, BumGenius one size, BumGenius AIO, Fuzzi Bunz, and a Drybees hybrid AIO.  Here's my review of these diapers:

Happy Heinys One Size - This diaper is fairly easy to use, I like the large velcro tabs in the front, but overall, I'm not that big of a velcro fan.  I'm really intrigued as to how a one size diaper will really fit a newborn since Ryan is at the largest setting already.  I think it fits him well, so I'm doubtful that it'll fit a newborn well.  Anyways, Happy Heinys are known for their fun prints, but we just have a plain sage one.  

Happy Heinys Pocket - I really like this diaper because it has a rolled edge which means that Ryan doesn't get markings on this thighs from the elastic.  We have a baby blue one and a cow print one.  I LOVE the cow print!  It has a higher absorbency rating over the other prints and being in Texas, who wouldn't love cow print on their kiddo?  The solid one has a combination velcro and snap which is nice, but if the kiddo can take off the velcro, they can probably take off the snap as well.  

BumGenius One Size - This is a really good diaper.  It's really absorbent and has nice stretchy tabs, however, I don't like how the velcro tabs are really small.  Ryan can take off this diaper by himself, which I'm not a big fan of!  

BumGenius AIO - I love this diaper because it's really absorbent and it fits Ryan really well.  I think it should have a pocket in the back though so I can really tell if it really is dry.  These have the same small velcro tabs as the one size, which I'm not a fan of.  I wish they had better colors or prints to make them more fun, I'm not a big fan of the every diaper being pastel.  

Fuzzi Bunz Pocket - This is the original pocket diaper.  It seems like every cloth diapering store sells these!  I like the one we have, but I feel like I really have to stuff it to make it absorbent.  I didn't think that I would like the snaps since Ryan hates diaper changes and I figured that velcro would be easiest, but it turns out that using snaps isn't hard or time consuming at all.  The only down side to snaps is that you only have x number of settings whereas with the velcro, you can just place it where it fits best.  

Drybees Hybrid AIO - This is my least favorite diaper that always hangs on until the bottom of the pile.  It's really big and doesn't fit Ryan very well and it's not very absorbent.  I like how it's a hybrid, so it's basically an AIO with a pocket in the back that you can stuff.  I have stuffed this diaper like crazy and still had leaks.  I'm not a fan.  

After my initial foray into cloth diapering, I had to see what else was out there, I really wanted to try more because I hadn't found the perfect diaper yet.  So, what did I do?  I bought more!  I don't remember the order I bought them in, so here's just a review of the other ones that I've tried.  

JamTots BerryPlush AI2s - I like these diapers for several reasons.  They are minky on the outside and if you've ever felt minky, you'd know that it is definitely luxurious!  They have a snap in liner, making them an AI2.  Instead of the absorbent layer being sewn into the diaper, it is snapped onto the outer shell.  If the liner gets soiled and not the outer shell, then you can just replace the liner and not the shell.  The liner is really nice because the top layer is minky too.  These are great diapers, but I can't seem to get a good fit.  We started off in a large, but it seemed too big, so I got some mediums, but I think that Ryan will grow out of them soon.  They only have a small band of elastic at the top, so they don't stay up very well.  I'm thinking about getting a fitted diaper and putting the shell over it, but we'll see.  I like putting Ryan in these for naps so he'll be surrounded in minky goodness.  :)

Wahmies One Size - I like these diapers because they are trim, but I can't see to find an insert that does this diaper justice.  I started off with the Wahmies hemp, but it didn't seem to hold much and I've moved over to the one size microfiber terry insert, but now it looks way too bulky.  This diaper has a unique hook system that takes a bit to figure out, but once you do, it's relatively easy.  I have a tendency to put these on too tight though because Ryan usually has marks on his when I take these off.  Steven's not a fan of the hooks, but I really think that this would be a really good one size diaper.  

Thirsties AIO - We got the large size for Ryan and they are HUGE.  I like the leg gussets and it seems to hold a lot.  They just came out with a new version, so I just ordered one in a smaller size.  This is also a hybrid diaper that has a pocket so you can adjust absorbency, but the hole for the pocket is in the front which means that I have to touch a pee soaked insert every time I pull it out to be washed, which I'm not a fan of.  They also have small velcro tabs.  

Blueberry Aplix Pocket - I wanted to get a snap diaper, but didn't read the description correctly and ended up getting velcro instead (aplix is the non-trade name of velcro).  Overall, I love Blueberry diapers.  I think that they fit Ryan well and the insert that comes with it is awesome, but a little bulky.  I feel like this is another diaper that I can trust overnight.  

Blueberry Minky One Size Snap Pocket - We have this diaper in the cow print and it's one of my favorites.  It's the one that I like to show off to people.  The pattern is so cute and I just love the minky!  However, it is bulky and gives Ryan the pocket diaper bubble butt!  It holds a lot and is another one of my favorites for naps and overnight.  

Knickernappies Disposanots Pocket - I really like this diaper for during the day.  It is really trim and side snapping.  I haven't really has any problems with it, but I don't know how it'd hold up at night. 

Green Acre Designs (GAD) Pocket - I love these diapers!  They are trim and side snapping and come in a vast array of colors!  They are sewn inside out and flipped so there are no edges that touch the baby, kind of like the Happy Heinys with the rolled edge.  I've had issues with their hemp inserts slipping, so I've moved over to a microfiber and I'm still trying to figure out if its better or not.  We have a gadimal and a windpro fleece which are breathable overnight diapers.  I'm still in the process of figuring out if they work well or not, but I have to say that the gadimal is too cute!  

Diaper Change Minkee Pocket - We've only gotten a chance to use this diaper once, but it held A LOT, so far I'm impressed.  I bought it because it's minky and it was on sale.  :)  It's also side snapping, but along with the other minkys we own, it's a bit bulky.  

Okay, I think that's it for now.  I've got a few more diapers on the way (Rumparooz), one that I haven't washed yet (Swaddlebees AIO), and one more that I still want (Starbunz).  Once we get a chance to go through them, I'll add my reviews.  I think that once we've used the ones we have for awhile that I'll start thinning out my stash.  Doesn't it sound like we've got a TON of diapers?  Hehe...I've always loved variety.  :)  

OMG...I want these (even though there's no way to justify it)!!!

Lion paraphernalia will NEVER get old in this household!  :)  

What We've Been Up To for the Past 1.5 Months...

If you haven't heard, click here.  

Yep, that's us.  I guess it's our 15 minutes of fame.  

Without going into too much detail, luckily, we were awake when it happened.  We heard the boom, but didn't realize what had happened until 5-10 minutes later.  The door bell rang and when we went to answer it, there was no one there.  We turned around to go back to the family room and saw the smoke in the kitchen, so I ran into the garage with Ryan while Steven got the dogs out.  We went to our next door neighbor's house and waited there for the fire trucks to come.  It took what seems like forever for them to extinguish the fire.  The lightning hit the roof on the right hand side of the house and it caught on fire.  The roof and attic areas burned down on 75% of the house and the rest of the house suffered smoke damage and water damage from them trying to take out the fire.  Everything in Steven's parents room, study, gameroom and living room was totally damaged along with everything that we had stored in the attic like Ryan's baby toys/clothes, luggage, etc.  

We were lucky enough to find a friend of a friend who had an empty apartment that we stayed in for two weeks until we found a rental home.  The house is just up the street from where we were, so we can keep an eye on the house and we're closer to the park and pool.  We're settling in and have gotten a good routine going.  

Ryan is doing great.  He was being shuffled between different houses in my mom's group the first week, which was great because we didn't really have anywhere for him to go while we took care of the house.  The following week, he got the sickest he's ever been.  He had an ear infection, croup and bronchitis.  I felt so bad for the poor little guy.  Every time he coughed, he cried out in pain, but luckily the really bad coughing only lasted a day or so.  It took him about two weeks to fully recover, but he's been doing great ever since.  The roof and attic fell on all of his toys and books, but we've bought more to replace some of toys/books that were lost.  It's not quite what he had before, but it's enough to keep him busy for now.  

The dogs were also being shuffled around from here to Houston to College Station.  We were so excited to get them back when we moved into the rental home, but, unfortunately, Carrie stepped on something in the back yard and nearly sliced off a portion of the pad on her foot.  We kept it bandaged for a couple of weeks and it actually re-adhered on.  The dogs are now doing great and are on a doggie diet since Carrie gained 3 pounds in the two weeks that she was going to the vet!  

So, it's been a crazy 1.5 months, but things are finally settling down.  I'd like to thank everyone for their words and acts of support.  I really don't know how we could have made it through without it.  Even though we were going through this crazy experience, we felt so lucky to have such a great support network.  I'd really like to say thank you to the moms in my mom's group for taking care of Ryan.  In a time of change for Ryan, I was so happy to be able to take him to familiar places with people who I knew loved him even though he can be a bad influence sometimes!  I'd also like to say thank you to Emili, Lawrence, Melissa and Alice for taking care of the girls.  It was such a relief to not worry about being able to take the dogs with us to a hotel or apartment.  Thank you also to Jessica who did what she does best and organized the Nesties.  It's amazing how generous people can be who barely even know you.  I'm still taken aback by the support we received from this online community.  Thank you also to K Ry who found us a temporary home along with support from the EY office.  Even though it's been a year since I've been officially part of the EY office, it's nice to know that we're still in the EY family.  Thank you also to our family and friends who also supported us.  It's sad how bad things bring us together, but it also makes you realize how much you really do have and I wouldn't trade our friends for a house any day.  This sounds like an Oscar acceptance speech so I'll stop here.  :)  I can practically hear the music calling me off stage!  

Ryan at 14 Months

Since I've been so bad at keeping track of Ryan's developments, I was going to skip this entry, but I figure, why not? What's so great about consistency anyways? :)

Ryan learned to clap soon after his first birthday. He started with one hand stationary with the other hand doing all the work. He didn't make much sound at first, but now he's quite loud! He claps when he hears other people clapping. For instance, on his learning puppy, if you press the puppy's hand sensor, it makes a clapping noise. When Ryan hears it, he likes to clap along. Whenever he thinks that he's done a good job, he claps for himself, even though he may not have gotten that puzzle piece completely in. What can I say? I clap along for him too. :) He claps when you say "yay" or "good job" too. He loves clapping and his whole face brightens up when he does.

Ryan's really been into self-feeding lately. If I try to feed him with a spoon, he'll take a few bites and then attacks the spoon until he gets ahold of it. He likes to grab the spoon with his left hand and then he switches it over to his right hand where he'll use it. He's not very good at scooping food up, but he's managed to stab it and push food around his plate. Ryan is a biter, so I try to utilize that by having him bite into as much of his food as possible. We started with bananas soon after his first birthday and we've moved on from there. Yesterday we shared a tuna sandwich from Quizno's at the mall. I break off a smaller piece and then let him bite off what he wants to eat. It works out pretty well and it keeps his hands a little bit cleaner. He's really good at biting! I don't know if that's a good thing or not!

Ryan has gone overboard sucking his thumb lately. I think it's because of the ear infection that he had a few weeks ago. He likes to suck his left thumb while he pulls his right ear. He can even walk and do it! It's a bit ridiculous. He's always sucked his thumb, but it's really turned into an obsession so much so that we've decided to do something about it. We ordered some stuff called Mavala Stop. It's suppose to come in the mail soon. I'll let ya'll know if it works out or not. I'm tired of having the only kiddo who sucks their thumb!

Ryan has developed a particular affinity for our white haired canine. Poor Button, he "pets" her, which is fine, but he had a tendency to get rough. Ryan eventually starts yanking out handfuls of Button fur and she just sits there and takes. It drives me nuts. I always yell at Button and tell her to run away from Ryan, like Carrie is smart enough to do. Sadly, I don't think that Button gets as much attention as she's used to, so she'll take whatever attention she can get, even if it's Ryan pulling out her fur. We're trying to teach him to do it gently, but he's so attracted to her that he follows her around the house and sometimes we just can't keep up! Poor Button!

Ryan's current pet peeves are diaper changes (aren't they always?) and getting dressed. When he sees me pull out clothes for him to change into, he goes running off in the opposite direction. When I say run, I really mean run! He runs away and giggles. He's so silly, he knows when he does things he's not suppose to. When I catch him going up the stairs, he goes up faster and giggles. When I caught him pulling down a towel off of the towel rack, he giggled and did it anyway. We haven't really disciplined him minus biting, and we've been lucky so far. He has started throwing some fits, but there's usually a way around them, or we just let him go at it. Usually when he throws a fit, he'll sit on the ground, lean forward and bang his head on the ground. He hasn't done it since his ear infection a few weeks ago, so we've been lucky. He was really acting up and fussing last week, but we think it was just teething because the minute we gave him some orajel, he was instantly better. The biting is definitely related to teething. When he bites me excessively, I know now to bring out the orajel!

Ryan has become a walking pro. I've heard of kiddos taking steps here and there and then eventually walking, but Ryan didn't let go of our hands/walker until he was ready to walk. He did a few steps the week before his birthday, but it only took a week until he let go and was walking all over the house. I've heard that soon after learning how to walk, they learn to run and that's the end of having a good child. I didn't see it at first, but now I can totally tell that he's running and he sure is fast, especially if I'm chasing after him with clothes!

At the kiddie gym, Ryan hasn't really wanted to hang for the past month. I can't explain, but it's just not his thing right now. On the other hand, he loves the ball pit. Once he gets in there, he's hooked and doesn't want to come back out, which would be fine except that he loves to throw the balls out of the pit. He also loves the tunnels at the gyms. When he sees one, he likes to dive right in.

Ryan hasn't been into vegetables lately. It's probably because we give him so much fruit. Even if I try to hide some veggies in a spoonful of food that I know that he likes, he can magically tell and spit it out. That's another thing that he got from being sick, spitting out food. Apparently, when kids get ear infections, it hurts to eat so they don't eat as much. When Ryan got his ear infection, he learned how to stick out his tongue to spit out food. Even though the ear infection is gone, he's already learned the habit. So much for having the baby who'll eat everything. I'm trying to cut back on his fruit intake, but what can I say? Ryan's a fruit-aholic!

Okay, I think that's enough of an update for now. I need to take more pictures!!

Self-Feeding

Ryan has really been into self-feeding lately. Check out the video on his picasa site (http://picasaweb.google.com/babytangy). I've tried to switch over to flickr, but I get errors when I try to upload pictures. I know I should keep on trying, but then it uploads the same pictures again and then it has errors. It's really been annoying. I think we might just stick with picasa. We'll see. I'm going to try again on flickr and I'll let ya'll know how it goes!

Higher

A couple of weekends ago, we headed over to the neighborhood park to enjoy the nice weather and get outside for a bit. Ryan was on the swings as happy as could be and when the kiddo next to him said "higher" asking his Dad to push him higher, Ryan responded by asking Steven to push him "higher" too!

Lil Engineer

Okay, so the picture doesn't really go, but I thought it was cute and wanted to include it on the blog. :)

During zip line week at My Gym, when Ryan was placed in the airplane to be zipped across the room, the first thing he did was look up at the pully system holding him. He stared at it during his first flight before he looked away at his surroundings. According to the My Gym owner, he said that kids of engineering families always look at the pulley on the zip line when they're on the ride. I looked at him in astonishment and told him that Steven was an engineer! He said it was just one of those things that he's noticed during the last three years that he's owned the gym. Weird, huh? So apparently we're raising a little engineer!

Congrats Auntie Al!

On Friday, we went to Alice's white coat ceremony in College Station. The first two pics are of her awkwardly being dressed in her white coat. Yeah, I just don't think there's a graceful way of being coated! It was fun visiting College Station again and seeing Al walk across the stage. The next time that happens, she'll be graduating from vet school...yay!

Silly Little Lion

Here are some random pictures that we've taken of the little lion being silly.

The first pic is of Ryan trying to sit in a box that's too little for him. I guess it's a good way for him to figure out how big he really is (and how heavy he weighs!).

The second pic is of Ryan trying on Carrie's dog collar. Before Steven bathed Carrie, he took off her collar and placed it on the couch. The following morning, Ryan found it and placed it on his neck!

The third pic is Ryan chilling out at Starbuck's. We've frequently patronize the Starbuck's in Four Points and while waiting for our order to be done, Ryan crawled onto the comfy chair and decided to hang out Friends style.

The last pic is of Ryan sitting in a big boy chair at storytime at Cups 'n Cones in the neighborhood. After stealing the chair from a little girl (sorry about that), Ryan sat and enjoyed listening to the guitar being played, even though the girl barely knew how to play any of the songs! Maybe we should look into a music class where they actually know what they're doing!

Easter

Our neighborhood had an easter egg hunt for the kiddos on Saturday, March 22nd. We were so excited that Ryan got to egg hunt for the first time, so of course, he's wearing his camo pants for the hunt! He actually did really well. He put the first egg into his basket, I helped him add some more and then he proceeded to throw most of them out of the basket again. :) He's really into sharing with others.

Ryan got to meet the Easter bunny and sit on the local fire truck! We had a great time and can't wait to egg hunt again next year.

Peapod Travel Bed

We got Ryan this travel bed since he's a total crib sleeper. The last time that he slept in bed with us, I think I only got 2 hours of sleep total that night, he was wriggling around so much! It's a cool little bed that looks like a tent. The front can be zipped closed so he can sleep safely inside. There's a panel on each side that can be opened for air circulation and there's even an inflatable mattress that slides between the floor of the tent and the ground to make it more comfortable. When we got it, we thought that we'd let Ryan check it out. He went absolutely crazy playing with it! Yeah...I don't think he's going to get much sleep in this thing afterall!

Just Like Daddy

These pics are of Ryan Lion taking after dear ole Dad, he's playing his first video games! Ryan started off with Galaga and then moved onto Ms. Pac-Man. I gotta say that he's a natural. I wonder if we can go on the Today Show...

A Day at the Austin Museum of Art

On Tuesdays, the Austin Museum of Art only charges $1 for admission. Since we've never been, Emily and I thought it'd be a fun trip. The museum is really small and the exhibit showcased local talent. I hate to say this, but we were more impressed by the kids' area of the museum than the real exhibit on display! Sad, I know.

The first pic is of Emily reciting Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech. There was a teleprompter in front of her and she read out the words over a microphone. This was one of the pieces of "art" being exhibited. See what I mean?

The next pics are of the kids' room. The first pic is of a cool tunnel with 3 sides of mirrors. Ryan tried climbing on his reflection. Each kid is allotted three colored dots of various sizes to put up on any of the white spaces in the room. You could move around previous dots already there, add onto them or start your own masterpiece. We saw caterpillars and teddy bears, and a wide array of other really creative things. Since Ryan is new to stickers, that was enough to keep him happy. Maybe the next time we go, he'll get to work on a masterpiece of his own. :) The last pic is of my serious baby when he's intent on something. Here, he proceeded to empty out the contents of this plastic container onto the floor. I wonder if that could be considered a piece of art?

First Year Pro Pics

I posted some pics that we took during Ryan's first year pro pic session, but here's the link to the actual pro pics.  I think they turned out really good considering the really bad mood Ryan was in while we were taking the pictures!  

http://virtuphotography.com/Client/Tang/