All She Hoped For....

Dance class was all Ivy dreamed it would be! She and 8 other little beauties proudly walked into the studio lined with mirrors..... and allowed the door to be closed behind them. Many mommies (and 1 very excited Nana) peaked through the cracks of the door for the 45 minute class only hoping to get a glimpse of our little ballerina. I got one picture while they were doing introductions... sadly... but it was all made okay when Ivy reenacted every bit of the class when her Daddy came home.

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Ivy was most thrilled about the pleat (plee-ay.... I don't know how to spell it) that she learned. It was rather awkward but boy, was she proud. They also learned about pointing and flexing their little toddler toesies. Everyone took turns skipping, sashaying, and using streamers as elephant noses as they danced to the music. Ivy says they played with a big balloon with handles at the end of the class. (I know you all remember playing with a parachute in gym class when you were little- they still use those things today!) She loved every minute of the class and has asked twice a day since when her dance class will take place again!

Cheers to Monday evenings and our little ballerina :)

Build-A-Bear

This week Ivy was so excited to receive one more birthday present in the mail. What was inside the card was a mystery to Ivy? A Build-A-Bear gift card meant nothing to her.... until she got a glimpse of it online and then with a little mommy and daddy coaxing we went that evening to experience Build-A-Bear for the first time!

Ivy loved every part of it! At this point we were getting her kitty dressed in the "dressing room" where Ivy even found the perfect pair of matching panties to go with the outfit she had picked. My favorite mommy part was seeing her pick out a heart and "give it a heart beat"--- she was in awe with the magic of it all!

Here she is so proud of her newly created friend.... but we didn't get to escape the store without fully accessorizing the kitty with shoes and bows!

Ivy can't wait to go back.... Mommy and Daddy hope it is with another gift card or a grandparent in tow!! :)

The countdown....

Not a countdown for baby Tula.... but something coming even sooner!!!

Here's a hint:

Ivy will start dance lessons!!!

Her big day is next Monday and she couldn't be more excited. The class starts with ballet and then they introduce tap. I hope that she finds something that she loves to do :) Right now, we have a little countdown until her classes start!!!

5 MORE DAYS!

Cloth Diapers.... A Smorstad Adventure

Cloth Diapers.... the discussion about cloth came up in our household when Ivy was a little over a year old. Greg had read something about the amount of time a diaper takes to dispose of in a landfill and then it made him feel sick when he thought about the number of sausage like tubes filled with diapers (you know what I am talking about if you have genie) that he had thrown directly in the trash. Listening to him, I heard him out, we did some reading and found that this was a HUGE expense this far down Ivy's diapering journey with both parents working part time while Greg was in school.

So the cloth diaper door was shut! And we vowed we would do cloth the next time around.

Look how cute they all are!!!

Then my friend, Cameron, discovered she was pregnant and started a mommy blog. I loved reading her blog as she had some similar parenting ideas to mine and some totally different- like natural birth!!! I am still blown away by Isis' birth story. :) But I remember when Cameron posted this and I was so excited for her but felt like the chance to do cloth myself was gone since I started working full time and just feeling too busy to add one more thing to my plate (like the "hassle of cloth"). I continued to drool over all the precious pics of her little girl in the cloth dipes but knew it wasn't going to work for me.

I knew it would be too much.

Too much cleaning.

Too much washing.

Too much for our sitter.

Too much.

Too much.

Too much.

Until Cameron posted this and we followed up with a million emails. I was changing my mind and the research began. Greg was pumped since about 3 months ago, he asked about cloth and I quickly reminded him that I work, do grad school, and have Ivy to take care of. So the research continued and let me just say, Cameron obviously did hers because I could find nothing that I felt more sure of than the products that she had already recommended and I really thought doing cloth like this would work for us!

I found the Cloth Diaper Whisperer and this video about Gro-via to be super helpful in encouraging me that we could take on this adventure!

This shows the shell and the snap in insert.

So here is what I know about our up coming adventure....

The negative first:

1. There are many skeptics, but that is okay. This is our decision and we have to live with it.

2. Poop is still poop- no matter how cute, soft, and cuddly the shell holding it is!

3. We will probably have some instances where disposables are necessary and we will not feel bad about that. (I know the church nursery doesn't do cloth and I am still not sure how I feel about being out running errands and having a dirty diaper in my bag.... we will see!)

4. I will have 2 extra loads of laundry a week.

5. There will be times diapering questions will come up and will require some research on my part.... but I know first I will just email Cameron!! haha - hope you are ready!!!

Now onto the happy notes:

6. Tula will have a big ol diaper booty- that is oh so cute!

7. Cloth diapers so stinking cute :) Colors, patterns, etc!

8. We will save quite a few dollars in this process.... just think about the cost of diapers and diaper genie refills over a 2 year period!

Here are the three sizes (just by adjusting a button)... in bright purple!

9. As Greg says- we will lessen our footprint on our planet!

10. You will enjoy lots of pics of Tula sporting her bright colored dipes!

We spent our summer....

The summer is officially over! Tomorrow school starts and we will get back into the swing of things (just in time for a major arrival on September 8th). I am excited for what the new school year holds, with a class of excellent 2nd graders but I will definitely miss the way we spent our summer.

We spent our summer days at the pool with friends.

We spent our summer days anywhere we could find water.... and sometimes that meant our back yard!

We spent our summer days taking trips to cool places like the Explorium!

We spent our summer days wearing pretty sun dresses and learning to sit like a lady!

We spent our summer days swinging on the swing set!

In ONE month!

Dear Tula,

Mommy goes back to her first full week of work tomorrow! I have enjoyed the summer playing with your big sister, Ivy, organizing every nook of our home, and preparing for your arrival. I have had some not fun times completing boring grad school assignments, fighting heart burn, and dealing with insurance people. Overall it has been a fantastic summer! When God planned your arrival (with the help of Daddy and I) we decided it would be great to start the school year and then have a maternity leave. That is a super plan except for feeling the need to be completely ready for you 1 month early and the tiredness and fatigue that come with starting the school year at 36 weeks preggo! But for you my dear, you are totally worth it. We can't wait to meet you. Ivy talks about you daily and thinks you are going to come out playing baby dolls and candy land. :) Your room is complete.... well, except one thing... you! One month from today you will be in my arms. Can't wait!

Love,

Mommy

Tula's bed and name.... we so love her name! We were worried that we would not find a name that we absolutely love the way we do Ivy's but we really are crazy about it!

Tula's dresser and diaper changing table.... which will be adorned with adorable, cuddly cloth dipes this time around! We are excited- blogging about that soon!

Wall decor :) Daddy loves Tula so much because putting up that wall decal was rather tedious!

Tula's second-hand, looks like new rocker! We could not take Ivy's rocker (since we still rock... and plan to until I simply can't hold her), so an awesome friend offered hers for FREE because it had some minor stains. My mother in law took on the job of recovering it with a lime green polka dotted print and wah-lah it is perfect for rocking Tula Belle!

Wordless Wednesday- Happy Birthday, Ivy!