Daddy's Happy

Shady Maple. Homemade Rootbeer. New Furniture. Pottery Barn Outlet.  All things that make Gary happy (ok so maybe the last one makes me happy)

This past Saturday I took Gary and Natalie to Shady Maple for their first time.  Those who are not local- Shady Maple is a HUGE smorgasboard outside of Lancaster- all you can eat Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. As we were standing in line for almost an hour- Gary leans over and says this better be worth it.  Within 10 minutes of sitting down he decided we can go back!!  You should definitely try it out if you have never been there.

While driving around Gary was telling me how he loved homemade rootbeer as a child.  Not long after we drove past this sign.

The sign was at the end of Mennonite/Amish family's driveway.  We saw some other cars there so decided to give it a try.  You pull up to this shed/barn where you ring a doorbell and the lady came up from the fields to serve you.  

Gary emerged very happy.  Homemade rootbeer.  I was also rather excited for the awesome jug it came in!!

All in all we had a rather successful trip to Lancaster.  Natalie was amazing all day- 11 hours of in and out of her car seat or being held all the time.  Lets just say she needed some floor time when we got home.  Can't wait for our next day trip!

Adios Pampers!

Today is the day.  We are going cold turkey from disposable diapers.  For the past two weeks I have been experimenting with cloth diapering but today I am taking the plunge.  After taking out trash bag after trash bag full of disposables, I started looking into other options.   When I was pregnant I had looked into G Diapers but at that time was looking at their flushable inserts (Gary was against washing diapers in the same washer I wash his clothes).  Using only flushable inserts was not financially wise (though a lot more green).  Then after talking to some friends, cloth diapering sounded more feasible.  I some how managed to convince Gary (if by convince I mean call him at work after he has already been there for 15 hours and then ask when he is too tired to argue)!     I will admit there is a learning curve; trial Day 1 didn't go as smoothly as I was hoping for but I think we are finally figuring things out!  I don't know how much of an impact it will really make on the environment but at least I feel better about it!  The best part about the whole thing is how adorable Natalie looks in them!!

I just can't believe how big she is getting!!!  And I am sure I shouldn't say this but I think she is begining to look a little more like her Mama!

Friends and Emotions

Last week Natalie got to hang out with one of her other friends, Keiper.  Keiper and Natalie are just two weeks apart.  It has been great for me to have a friend whose little one is at exactly the same stage, not that Lauren and I get to hang out or even chat a lot.  Lauren, and her sister-in-law Danielle, are two of the mom's who recently inspired my to switch to cloth diapers (more on that another day).

Last Monday Lauren and I got our two little ones together to hang out while we caught up.  Lauren snapped some great pictures of the two of them.  Natalie was very expressive with her looks that day.  Nat and Keiper seemed to get along well and enjoyed toys, practicing crawling and eating cheerios together.

Practicing Crawling

Happy Babies

Surprised Natalie

Annoyed Natalie

 Upset Natalie ("Mom he's touching me")

Bears Game

The past few weeks Natalie has gotten to hang out with some of her friends (which means Gary and I have gotten to hang out with some of our friends as well).  A win win situation.

Two weekends ago, Gary, Natalie and I went to a Hershey Bears game with Jim, Courtney and Taylor (Jim is in residency with Gary).  The girls are about three months apart.  Courtney had won 4th row tickets to the game so the Natalie and Taylor had plenty to keep them entertained for three hours (we were right aside of the penalty box as well).  We were shocked that neither of the girls cried the whole time, they loved it!

Thanks for inviting us to the game Flynn's!

Best Baby Gate Ever/Sasha worst enemy

We essentially live in a second story condo.  Our entryway and garage are the only thing on the first floor.  So as you can imagine we go up and down the steps all the time.  We were hesitant to buy the run of the mill baby gate cause of all the use it is going to get, as well as the fact that I usually have my hands full of bags or groceries or a baby when I get home; I wanted something easy to open.  We were extremely fortunate/spoiled by my parents who agreed to make us a custom baby gate.  IT IS AWESOME!!!  So easy to operate, so sturdy and it matches our house perfectly (it doesn't really look like a baby gate!!)  It is exactly what we pictured.

Sasha seems to be the only one not so fond of the gate.  She can't run up and down the steps now.  I think Louise (our downstairs neighbor) will thank us for that!

Santa

Just found this post I never published.  Sorry.

Natalie was the perfect age to meet Santa this year.  Old enough to interact with him, but not old enough to be scared of him.  This may sound strange, but we took her to Bass Pro Shop to meet Santa.  They do free pictures with Santa and it is a great looking Santa with a very neat background.  Natalie didn't cry but she didn't smile either.

Fortunately, Santa came to the Christmas part in our development as well.  Natalie was much more excited to see Santa this time.  She starred up at him for a bit then smiled for the camera!!  

Lets just hope next year she is as excited to see Santa as well.

Natalie's Valentines day "Kiss"

Somehow in three years we have never taken my parents to Chocolate World.  Natalie is so much fun to watch on the ride so we decided to head the two miles down the road yesterday.  She again loved the ride and just sat there in complete amazement.  But this time she got to meet the Hershey Kiss with Poppop.  Just like at Christmas, she is at a great age where she is not afraid of the characters yet!  SO much fun.