L to the third

Twenty-three month update

2012-05-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

Sammy turned twenty-three months old on Wednesday--is it just me or am I the only one having a hard time believing that I'm going to be the mother of a two-year-old in less than a month?!

Stats: Sammy is wearing all 3T clothing and pajamas and size 8 shoes. I think he's working on another molar as he's been chewing on his fingers non-stop the past week or so, but I honestly don't know if any have broken through. We made the switch over to motherease fitted diapers with covers about a month or so ago and we haven't had a single issue since; looks like my super soaker has met his match (knock on wood). Sammy generally sleeps from 8 pm until 7 am most days and takes an hour and a half nap in the afternoon, although on some lucky days he'll sleep for two and a half hours.

New words/phrases: Sammy's had a veritable work explosion this past month and is picking up an average of 2-4 new words a day. Here's just a sampling of what comes to mind: bulldozer, dump truck, motorcycle, elephant, puzzle, clean, blanket, share, helicopter, eggs, oval, hexagon and "excuse me."
Other tricks: Sammy knows most, if not all, of the letters in the alphabet, and all of his numbers up to ten. He also knows most of his colors, like yellow, green, orange, red, purple, pink and blue and can identify and match a good number of shapes, such as square, circle, oval, star, triangle and hexagon. Sammy has also mastered going up and down the stairs on his own while holding onto the railing.

Likes: Planes, trains and automobiles (along with the occasional boat and helicopter), "reading" books and being read to, dancing to music, drawing and coloring, his fuzzy blankets, bath time, and anything and everything to do with mommy. Sammy has recently turned into a stage five clinger and will break down if I'm out of his sight for more than a few minutes, much to the chagrin of me and Captain Husband.
Dislikes: Being separated from mommy for any length of time, brushing his teeth, and diaper changes in public restrooms (can't say I really blame him).

Texture Thursday: Sweet

2012-05-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

I attended my very first FRG meeting last night (Family Readiness Group for those of you military-acronym-challenged, like myself), which was going to be a family-style potluck affair. Being that this was going to be the first time that many of the soldiers and spouses of Captain Husband's battery were meeting me, I definitely didn't want to show up empty-handed.

CH insisted that I didn't have to make anything, but I didn't need much excuse to make my current go-to favorite dessert--strawberry cream cake (you may recall that I made this a few weeks back, but here's a link to the recipe again because seriously, it's awesome. You should make one immediately if not sooner; you'll thank me.)

The cake turned out fabulously and apparently CH's battery thought it was pretty tasty, too--only one piece was left by the time the meeting came to a close. Yeah, I totally called dibs on that last piece--it was in my belly about two hours after we got home last night. Do you have a go-to dessert?

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: A few of my favorite things

2012-05-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

{There's no other flower that can bring a smile to my face quite the way that a bunch of yellow tulips can. They brighten up any room and never fail to brighten my day.}

{Another of my favorite things is Miss Sandy Cat, of course. And one of her favorite things to do--second only to using our new sofas as scratching posts-- is nibbling on the leaves of my flowers when she thinks no one is watching.}

{And l couldn't let a post about my favorite things go by without a mention of Sammy, my favorite resident toddler. Here he is showing off one of my recent thrift store finds--a vintage photographer's backdrop and stand that I scored for $10 at my favorite thrift shop. What are some of your favorite things?}

I've got nothin'

2012-05-22T07:00:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a bit of an emotion-filled day for me; Captain Husband and I had a nice, long talk and hopefully we've gotten things a bit back on track between the two of us--at the very least, we're keeping the lines of communication open, which is always a good thing. But as a result, I never really got around to photographing anything for today's blog post, so that means you're all going to be treated to some cute shots of Sammy and Henry from a week and a half ago.

Man, I feel better just looking at my nephew's happy face! (And to everyone who was so sweet to comment yesterday, thank you all so very much. I seriously wanted to cry from happiness just knowing that I'm not alone in feeling the way that I do at times. You guys are awesome.)

Things I'm afraid to tell you

2012-05-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Deep breaths: I've been contemplating writing a post like this for some time now, but then a few of my blog friends went and created something awesome called Let's Get Real, which made me summon up some testicular fortitude and sit down and do it. Soooooooooooo here goes.

For every post I write featuring some cute craft that I just made, there are at least four half-finished projects lying around the house in some state of neglect. I start things that I wind up not finishing and then I feel horrible about it, so I move on to something "easy" to make myself feel better. And posting about crafts means I don't have to delve into my personal life quite so much for material, which honestly leaves a lot to be desired these days.

I totally seek the validation of strangers with this blog. It makes me feel so good when someone--anyone--compliments my photos and the like and I get really down on myself when a post goes by without a single comment. Sad, right?

I'm not really enjoying being a military spouse these days. But then again, I'm sure my problems are not limited to those who happen to be married to someone in service, so I think it might be accurate to say that I'm not happy being a spouse at the moment. I find myself wishing that Captain Husband would have to go somewhere for a few months just so I can get back into the routine that I had established while he was in South Korea last year.

I miss working. A lot. I miss using my brain and having conversations with other adults about things that have nothing to do with kids or kid-related activities. I feel as though I have nothing to talk about and like I'm the most boring person to ever walk the planet. I try to keep up with current events and read the paper every day and whatnot, but it seems like every single conversation I have with other people somehow returns to the minutiae of being a stay-at-home-mom and I hate that. I can't remember the last time that I sat down and read a scholarly article; no wonder I feel so brain dead.

I'm jealous of the fact that CH gets to leave the house and go to work every day. I'm jealous that he has a private office and can shut the door when he needs to work on something important (or if he just wants to be left alone for a little bit). I'm jealous that he gets to unwind from his day at work during his drive home. I want those things for myself...more importantly, I'd like to be able to pee without Sammy going into a separation-anxiety-induced panic attack every time I try to close the bathroom door.

Believe me, there's more, so much more. I've only just scratched the surface but I don't want to scare everyone off of visiting my blog in one fell swoop. Thanks for letting me get some of this stuff off of my chest.

Foto Friday: Feathers or fur

2012-05-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

Sandy Cat really likes the perches that I put up for her in Sammy's play room, especially as they give her a safe place where she can watch over Sammy without worrying about him getting too affectionate and check out the neighborhood birds that like to congregate around the bird feeder in our backyard. She had apparently just spied a few tasty-looking ones when I snapped this photo.

In other news, this baby is kicking my butt, or rather, he's kicking my back. My lower back is still a mess, so I finally broke down and called my doctor in the hopes the could recommend something, anything really, that might help. He gave me the name and number of a local massage therapist and I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon with her, so I hope that it will do the trick or at least give me some sort of relief. Maybe if I play my cards right I can convince Captain Husband that this will need to become a weekly expense until this kid is born--I kind of like the sound of that!

Texture Thursday: Texas sage

2012-05-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

Our rental house in El Paso happens to have a seven-foot-tall Texas sage plant in the front yard--one of the only plants that doesn't look half-dead or completely haggard. Thanks to all of the rain we received here last week, the plant has recently erupted in a multitude of tiny, purple blooms, giving me the perfect subject matter for this week's Texture Thursday. I hope that the blooms stick around for awhile as I really love the unexpected pop of color that I get to see every time I go out.

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: You can't eat without it

2012-05-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

{I was born and raised in southwestern Pennsylvania in a rural area about twenty miles outside of Pittsburgh, the home of all things Heinz. As such, I grew up using Heinz ketchup and only Heinz ketchup--I may have even made myself a ketchup sandwich once or twice as a kid. My dad and brothers put it on everything, from fries and mac 'n cheese to scrambled eggs and chicken, but I draw the line at fries (and they think I'm the weird one).}

{It appears that the love of Heinz is alive and well in the newest generation of my family; the other day at lunch, Sammy decided to just dispense with the fries and go straight to the source and ate the ketchup straight out of the package. I don't think my brother could have been more proud of his nephew.}

Parting is such sweet sorrow

2012-05-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

Ben, Sarah and Henry flew back to Pennsylvania yesterday afternoon and the house is so strangely quiet now that they're gone. I really miss living within driving distance of my family and their visit definitely drove that fact home, big time. As I watched Sammy and Henry play together over the past week, I couldn't help but be a bit sad because they're not going to get to grow up together in the manner that I did with my cousins, something that I now realize that I took for granted. I hope we'll be able to get together again soon--this whole seeing-family-once-every-six-months-or-more thing is starting to get old fast.

Say Uncle

2012-05-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

My brother and his family's visit has been beneficial to all of us; Sammy in that he's learned how to interact with someone much smaller than him and me in that I was given a small taste of what it's going to be like to have two kids under foot in the house, but I think this visit has been the most enlightening for Captain Husband. It's easy for me to forget at times that CH has never really been around kids in this age group, but he was only here for the very beginnings of Sammy's newborn phase and then he came home a year later to a toddler that was walking, sleeping through the night, and feeding himself.

This visit has been eye-opening for CH at the very least--dealing with an eight-month old who can sit on his own but isn't quite crawling yet, that still takes a bottle a few times a day and needs to be fed in a high chair for all of his meals, who is beginning to cut his first tooth and thus waking up crying several times in the night, is a far stretch from having a walking, talking, sleeping-all-night-in-a-big-boy-bed toddler in the house. But CH has taken to the differences between Henry and Sammy like a duck to water, so I know that he's going to be just fine this second time around. But then again, a little practice never hurt anyone, right? Plus it always helps that our nephew thinks his uncle is a pretty funny guy.

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day!

2012-05-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

Hi and welcome to those of you coming over from the Military Spouse Appreciation Day Blog Hop; pull up a chair, get comfy and enjoy your visit! (New to the Blog Hop? Go write yourself an intro post, link up over at the Household 6 Diva, and join in on the fun!)

My name is Laura and all of my initials are the same, which is how the name of this blog came about. This is the story of my ongoing adventures as a historian, military spouse and mom. (And not to toot my own horn, but today is my birthday, too!)

Captain Husband and I met at a Halloween party in Washington, DC in 2007; I was dressed like a zombie flapper and he was a 80s hair-metal rocker, complete with an awesome mullet wig. We were married in July of 2008 and became proud parents to a bouncing baby boy named Sammy in June of 2010 and are expecting bouncing baby boy #2 in early August of this year; we also share our home with a very lovable and fuzzy kitty named Sandy. The cast of L to the third currently resides in the west Texas town of El Paso--a bit of a change from what we are used to, having spent most of our lives in the northeast, but so far so good.

Want to know more? Click here for our story. Thank you for stopping by--please leave a comment so I can swing by your blog, too. And to all of my fellow MilSpouses that are reading this, I offer my heartfelt thanks for all that you do!

Texture Thursday: Rub-a-dub-dub, two cousins in the tub

2012-05-10T07:00:00.000-06:00

It's been so nice watching the relationship between Sammy and Henry grow with each passing day; it's progressed from Sammy being a bit too rough for Henry's liking (turns out babies don't enjoy bear hugs, complete with growling) to Sammy taking an active interest in Henry's emotional well-being. The two boys are sharing a room (it's excellent practice for when baby #2 is here), so when Sammy awoke Tuesday morning and discovered Henry fast asleep in his former crib, Sammy frantically informed us all that the "baby" was "stuck" because Henry wasn't able to get up and leave the room on his own accord. The biggest surprise to all of us, though, is just how nicely Sammy has been sharing with Henry--he's been letting Henry sit in his high chair, use his old crib, be held by HIS mommy, and play with his toys. Sammy's even started taking toys over to Henry and saying "share" while handing him the toy in question. I think Sammy's going to be a pretty awesome big brother thanks to all of the practice he's been getting with his little cousin.

An unusual sight

2012-05-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

{Yesterday afternoon was a bit of an anomaly here in El Paso--cloudy and cool with a high in the low 70s. It wasn't long before the clouds became large and ominous, with thunder in the distance and soon we were treated to nice, long rain that quickly turned our backyard into a small pond.}

{This was the first thunderstorm that happened while Sammy was awake since we moved here and he was just enthralled by the whole spectacle, running from window to window to watch the rain and looking at me with wide eyes every time thunder clapped nearby.}

Attack of the tickle monster

2012-05-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

Can you get a load of this face? I just want to kiss him and hug him and nom on his chubby arms and legs! Apparently the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, because Sammy had pretty much the same reaction to his cousin, Henry, that I did.

I'm pretty sure Sammy's thinking something along the lines of "ZOMG BABY! Must. Tickle. Now." in the above shot.

Sammy wasted no time at all in playing with his cousin, repeatedly going in for "tickles" and some corporal cuddling. Fortunately Henry is super easy going and he handled all of Sammy's affection remarkably well, especially for someone who had been up since 3:15 that morning.

For their first day together, I think the two boys did remarkably well. I think they're going to be the best of buddies by the time Henry has to return to Pennsylvania next week.

Out of this world (and out of whack)

2012-05-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

I hope you all got a chance to check out the biggest full moon of the year on Saturday night--it was a pretty spectacular sight here in El Paso, although my photo doesn't really do it justice as I'm awful at night photography and couldn't be bothered to take the time to set up the tripod to do things properly.

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew are arriving in here this morning; it's the first time we've seen them since Thanksgiving last year, so you can imagine just how excited I am about their visit. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing worse than traveling half-way across the country only to spend your first day there tracking down the brand of diapers that you like, or scavenging for age-appropriate snacks for your nearly eight-month-old, so to that end I spent most of the weekend running to various stores and getting things set up for them. Well, between that and attempting to clean up the house a bit (we're going to have a crawler in the house, eek!), I managed to mess up my lower back something awful. Throw in a thirty-pound toddler that still needs to be picked up and put in his car seat several times a day and now I'm hobbling around like a pregnant octogenarian. If anyone has some tried and true remedies for alleviating some of the discomfort, I'm all ears!

Couch potatoes

2012-05-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

The other night one of my friends jokingly asked me if I ever rest and I totally see where she's coming from. I've been pulling a lot of late nights between working on various sewing projects and testing out yummy recipes in the kitchen (I think on a subconscious level I'm taking advantage of being able to stay up until midnight while I still can). But rest assured that there are days when Sammy and I don't get out of our pajamas until shortly before Captain Husband comes home from work in the evening--those sorts of days appear to be on the increase the further along I get in this pregnancy. On those days, Sammy and I turn into full-fledged couch potatoes and watch entirely too much television. Yesterday was one of those days--I was in recovery mode from hosting the trunk show the night before and Sammy was just in one of those moods where he preferred to be glued to my side rather than off playing and I was totally okay with that; I know it won't be long before he gets older and would rather be caught dead than caught spending a day with his mom watching HGTV.

Texture Thursday: On the rack

2012-05-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

My shot for Texture Thursday is a bit of a stretch, but this is what happens when I stay up too late having a blast with some of my girlfriends. My good friend, Suzy, came in from California to host an in-home fashion trunk show so I invited some of my friends over for an evening of cute clothes, good food and fun conversation last night. It's a little hard shopping for clothing when you're entering the third trimester, but even I was pleasantly surprised to find a few things that could double as maternity and post-maternity wear. If I keep this up, I may just find myself turning into a stylish mama one of these days.

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: A piece of cake

2012-05-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

{We had a very special guest over to our house for dinner this past weekend--Captain Husband's friend from his year abroad in South Korea, Colonel Glass. Col. Glass flew all the way in from Kansas so he could attend CH's change of command ceremony so we though the least we could do was invite him over for a nice home-cooked meal before he had to head back. I made baked rigatoni and meatballs and for desert I decided to try something new and different--strawberry cream cake:}

{I can attest to the fact that it tasted as good as it looked and it was relatively easy to make, too. It was a hit with the dinner crowd, especially Sammy. And in what is probably an entirely unrelated coincidence, Sammy's most recent new word is "cake."}

Getting ready for baby is sew much fun!

2012-05-01T07:00:00.000-06:00

I am so excited to finally get to show all of you what I was so busy working on the last week and a half! My friend, Mariana, is expecting a girl this June so I wanted to make a few things for the new addition to her family. Initially, I planned on only making a car seat canopy (a must have when one lives under the blistering sun of El Paso), but I kind of got carried away a bit and wound up making a car seat canopy, a onesie dress, two bibs, three burp cloths, a minkee blanket and a little draw-string bag to store it all in.

Of course, it helps that I had found the adorable vintage printed fabric at my local thrift store about a month ago that Mariana loved; plus it's hard to beat two yards of fabric for only $2.99!

I decided to just jump on in and go for it, even though I honestly had no clue of what I was doing most of the time; most of the tutorials that I followed promised projects that could be completed in 15 minutes or less, but those assurances were obviously aimed at people who knew how to sew. I spent many minutes sitting in front of the computer, re-reading the steps over and over again, convinced that they had somehow turned into a different language since beginning the project at hand.

The onesie dress is one of those things that looks cute until you start to look at it closely; my skirt was so messed up that I had to make a little faux belt to hide the sewing carnage that had taken place. And then the fabric that I used to make the belt wasn't long enough by 1/4" of an inch to encircle the dress, so I had to make a patch to hide the gap. What was supposed to be a ten-minute project quickly turned into an hour-and-a-half project. I think I'll have to practice this one a bit more before I can actually turn one out that looks half-way decent.

So here's everything all wrapped up and ready to be presented to my friend at her shower on Saturday; I had remembered my camera but forgot to put the memory card in before I left the house, so I was left without any way to take photos of Mariana opening her gift, but rest assured, she was pretty excited when she saw the whole kit and caboodle.

For those of you who'd like to try some of these out at home, here are the links to the tutorials I followed:
Onesie dress
Car seat canopy
Minkee blanket
Basic bibs
Burp cloths
Draw-string bag

Happy sewing!

In command

2012-04-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Friday was a big day for Captain Husband; he assumed command of a battery of just over a hundred soldiers. He's been waiting a long time for this and I couldn't be more proud of him--I just know he's going to do a wonderful job.

This was my first time attending a military ceremony (and Sammy's too), so I wasn't quite sure what to expect; fortunately it was held outdoors, so Sammy plopped himself down in the dirt and spent the entire time quietly playing with some of his matchbox cars. The ceremony itself was short, sweet and to the point, with the outgoing commander passing the unit guidon (or flag for those of you new to military speak) to CH in a symbolic transfer of power.

CH then led the battery in formation and then it was time to break for some refreshments. It was one of those situations where I didn't know a single person, but everyone seemed to know who I was and kept coming up to introduce themselves to me--it's going to take me a while to learn all of these new faces and names! Sammy had a blast running around and many of the soldiers were more than happy to indulge him in little games of chase and tickle monster; I was worried that he might get confused by all of the people in uniform and start calling random dudes daddy, but fortunately, that never happened.

Part of the ceremony included a presentation of roses to the outgoing commander's wife and to me; they're really quite lovely although Sandy seems to be under the impression that they're meant for her...to eat.

Twenty-two month update (a few days late)

2012-04-27T07:00:00.000-06:00

Sammy turned twenty-two months old on Monday and I totally let that slip by without an update of any kind somehow. Sammy has grown so much both physically and mentally since the last update that it's kind of crazy. I honestly think he's shot up about an inch in the last month (which may explain his need to sleep from 4 pm until 6 am the next morning earlier this week and him waking up from his naps saying, "Ow!" over and over again) and his vocabulary has been expanding by at least two words a day. Sammy's wearing 3T tops and bottoms and size 8 shoes; I'm not quite sure of the whole molar situation, but if you'd like to stick your finger in his mouth to find out, be my guest--I'm once bitten, twice shy.

He's gotten really good at following instructions and will put his toys away with only a little prompting and at our last play date he actually willingly SHARED a toy with one of his friends; of course, Sammy's far from perfect and can throw a tantrum with the best of them. However, he has picked up this somewhat adorable habit of saying, "I'm sorry," after he's finished wailing and flailing, which makes my resulting desire to punt him through the window diminish by at least half.

New tricks: Going up and down the stairs all by himself with alarming speed, making up songs and singing to himself, identifying numbers and letters wherever we go (this comes in handy when we're waiting in line at the store and I'll ask him to find me a particular letter--it buys me at least another 5 minutes of good/distracted behavior), saying "Hi" and "Bye" to nearly everyone we meet, "reading" to himself, and identifying several of his friends by name.

New words/sentences: "I see it/you", "Where did it/he go?", "What's that sound?", house, home, space, sun, rocket, car, chair, cycle (for motorcycle/bicycle), big, down, "Oh my!", star, water, cookie, cracker...and a whole bunch of other words that I just can't think of at the moment. Sammy's recall is nothing short of amazing--when he hears someone say a new word, he'll repeat it a few times and will use it accurately a few days later, usually to my surprise.

Texture Thursday: Pins and needles

2012-04-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

I've been spending a lot of time in my guest room/craft room these days; between the little projects that I'm trying to complete around the house, I also have two baby showers coming up soon. To that end, I decided that I was going to make all, if not most, of my gifts for my expectant friends. Clearly the heat wave that we in El Paso are experiencing has completely fried my brain. (It was 98 degrees yesterday...yeah, yeah, there's no humidity to speak of, but that's still pretty freakin' hot for APRIL.) I haven't been able to post any photos of the things I've been working on because they both read my blog and I'd like for them to be somewhat surprised, but if you follow me on Instagram (I'm @bicyclebandit), I've been posting photos here and there of the work in progress. So what have you been working on lately?

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: The beginnings of a vintage bassinet makeover

2012-04-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

{I've been rather absent from the online world lately and that's mostly due to the new project that I found for myself over the weekend--refurbishing a vintage bassinet that I discovered at a new-to-me thrift store.}

{The bassinet was structurally sound but needed some help in the aesthetics department. I stripped the bassinet down to its bare bones and fixed a minor split in the wood trim and then tried to figure out what to do next.}

{Looking at the dingy and somewhat tattered vinyl liner, I had my eureka moment--I could cut the liner along its seams and use those pieces to create a pattern for a custom fabric liner. It seemed like a pretty straightforward idea so I figured what the heck and started cutting away.}

{Thankfully I had a helper kitty to offer me assistance in the deconstruction of the original liner.}

{Last week I had found some gorgeous teal and green printed fabric at a different thrift store and bought it figuring that I could easily find some use for it. Turns out I had just enough of it to piece together a new liner for the bassinet! And the icing on the cake is that I was able to find complementary polka dotted fabric at the Hobby Lobby, so I bought enough of that to try my hand at putting together a skirt for the bassinet, as well as some lovely teal batiste for making some fitted sheets for bassinet mattress.}

{I pinned the old pieces of the vinyl liner to my fabric and started cutting--I added an additional 3" to the height of each piece so that I would hopefully have enough lining to fold over the edge of the bassinet. With some trepidation I started sewing everything together, beginning with sewing the side panels to the bottom panel, followed up by sewing up the sides.}

{I've never attempted anything like this before, so I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the new liner not only fits but it actually looks pretty darn good if I may say so myself. I plan to add some bias trim to the edge of the liner and I still have some ways to go with the skirt, but so far this transformation has me tickled pink.}

Winner, winner!

2012-04-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

I had meant to post this yesterday, but the day was filled with play dates, shopping excursions, and long drives all over El Paso. So without any further ado, here's the winner of the one-of-a-kind tote bag:

That would be Clara, aka Maeve's Mama! When you have a moment, please email me (at eltothethird at gmail dot com) your mailing address and I'll be sure to have the bag in the mail to you by the end of the week. Congrats to Clara and thanks to all who entered!

Breaking records

2012-04-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

Sammy and I participated in the second annual Great Cloth Diaper Change this past Saturday; we had joined in on the fun last year when we went home to visit my family in Pennsylvania over Easter, so when I heard that there was going to be an El Paso location, I quickly signed the two of us up.

It also helps that the change was taking place at Jungle Jaks, a huge indoor playground on the east side of El Paso--all of the participants were allowed to play for free following the event, which totally sweetened the deal. Sammy had been there once before, so I knew he would have a good time running around and playing with all of the other cloth-diapered kiddos.

The turnout this year was a bit more than I expected, which is pretty awesome because it means the word is getting out about the benefits of cloth diapering (or perhaps everyone wanted that free play pass). The El Paso location had thirty two kids participating last year, whereas this year there were a whopping sixty four kids involved. The changing quarters were a bit cramped, but everyone was excited to be there in the hopes of breaking the Guinness record that was set last year for the most cloth diapers changed simultaneously.

Afterwards Sammy ran around and played while I chatted with some of the other parents in attendance about the different cloth diapering systems everyone uses; it was nice getting to talk shop with some experienced fluff fanatics (and I'm sure Captain Husband appreciated the break from my recent non-stop diaper talk). There were also raffles and prizes for the attendees and I was very surprised when I won two of the door prizes--a free month of classes at Gymboree and two dozen jars of Earth's Best baby food, which will come in handy when my nephew, Hank, comes to visit in a few weeks. All in all it was a great way to spend the day--plus Sammy napped for several hours once we made it back to the house. So how did you spend your Earth Day weekend?