Perfect Weather

Yesterday we went down to the Riverwalk and walked around while we waited for our table at the Boathouse Restaurant. The weather was the most perfect it has been... ever. Seriously, the most amazing evening.

I love this one. :)

...and I love my little man!

EDITED TO ADD: This was the night that Jackson discovered his feet!

Labor Day Lunch

On Monday we went to my Mamaw's house for a Labor Day lunch!

There was a big crowd: Mom, Dad, Nick, Sam, Vanessa, Mamaw, Uncle Lee, Carolyn, Jason, me, and of course Mr. Jackson. Everyone wanted some one-on-one Jack time, and he was happy to oblige. 

sleepin' on Mimi

hangin' out with Uncle Sam

...and the sweetest thing was Nick and Jack laying on the floor just chatting. Nick would say something and Jackson would coo and talk back to him. They kept up a pretty long conversation!

It was great to hang out with family! 

(and who knew that we would get a MILLION inches of rain that day/night and lose our power for ~48 hours... you know how much I love not having power.)

Diaper Duty: At Home

After my first admission that we were planning to cloth, then my post about being a full-time CDer,  I've had a few questions (on and off the blog) about the general day-to-day use of cloth diapers. 

Here's a basic rundown of our daily diaper use. 

When it's time for a diaper change, we:

• take off the used diaper
• use disposable wipes to get the "gunk off" (we haven't moved to reusable wipes yet)
• put either the whole diaper (bumGenius) or the insert (Flip) into our "wet bag" (ours is a large PlanetWise wet bag from Kelly's Closet) which is hanging on a 3M hook on the side of our changing table (shown below)
• stuff an insert into a clean diaper cover (BG) or set a clean insert into a cover (Flip)
• put it on baby boy like a regular diaper and either snap or velcro it closed

Now, when the wet bag gets to be too full or we're close to running out of clean diapers (usually every other day):

• take the full wet bag to the laundry room
• dump all the diapers into the wash along with the wet bag and run a cold rinse with no detergent (this gets all the yucky stuff off first)
• after the cold rinse, I add 2 TBS of cloth-diaper-approved detergent and run a hot wash with an extra rinse cycle (which cleans and sanitizes the diapers) - usually on this wash, I will add any of Jack's regular laundry (outfits, burp cloths, blankets, etc) so that I'm not really doing any extra laundry (one of people's biggest potential drawbacks!) 
• when that is done, I pull out all the covers (shiny, colorful part) and put them on a drying rack we have in the laundry room, then all the inserts (and any other laundry) go into the dryer without a dryer sheet
• depending on how quickly I need the diapers, I will put the covers in the dryer for 10-20 minutes once the inserts are dry to get the last little bit of water out of them (since they will have been air drying for an hour or so)

(my instructions on our washer, in case anyone feels like doing the laundry)

I hope that doesn't sound too crazy! Put the dirty diaper in the bag, put the diapers and the bag in a cold rinse, hot wash, then the dryer! It has really been so much easier than I thought. Now, I know I haven't gotten to the "we're eating solid foods now" poop, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. :)

Next time I'll let you know how easy it is to use cloth on the go!

1st TN Game

Last Saturday was Jackson's first TN game! 

just chillin' watchin' the game

Tennessee played Montana and won 42-16! Whoo hoo!!

 Hunter and Elizabeth came over and we had a great time hanging out!

Smiling at Uncle Hunter

Talkin' to Aunt Elizabeth

Funny Faces

I usually don't post on Saturdays, but this kid just has me cracking up and I couldn't help but share. Last night while on the changing table, Jackson started making the funniest faces - like 100 in a row in less than 1 minute. I was laughing out loud and HAD to take a video. 

If you took the time to watch some or all of the videos from yesterday (or not), I hope you will take a minute and watch this one!!

P.S. If you're keeping up with us through a reader, check out some of the fun new things I've added to the site lately! Let me know what you think! :)

Tons of Jackson Videos

BE WARNED!! This post is literally just a bunch of videos of the little guy. :)

the "Fun Uncle" aka Funcle Nick (at 3 days old)

Tummy Time at 3 weeks old

Kisses with Daddy at 6 weeks

Jack at 8 weeks

Jack passed out on the couch (8 weeks)

Baby Jack - Two Months

Has another month already gone by??

Birth: 7lbs 8oz, 21in long

1 Month: 9lbs 4oz, 22 3/4in long

2 Months: 11lbs 12oz, 24in long

Here's what Jack is up to at two months:

• He smiled his first smile on August 11th at Daddy and then on the 12th at Mommy!
• He smiles at us a LOT and we think we're pretty close to a small giggle.
• Since we stopped swaddling him, he's slept 5-6 hours at a time at night in his crib! WHOO HOO!!
• He has gotten to where he likes having his diaper changed, because he likes laying on his changing table. He still, however, squirms like a madman.
• He is now in cloth diapers exclusively - at home, out and about, and at night! We love it!
• He's been cooing and talking more to us and will have small "conversations" too!
• He loves this one particular rattle (attached to an octopus from his activity mat) and will bat at it with his right hand over and over to make it rattle.
• He's getting better head control, but (since his brain is so big) has a hard time lifting his head up when he's on his tummy. :)
• He is wearing 0-3mo or 3mo clothes (more because that's what fits best with the cloth diapers).
• Yesterday we took the newborn insert out of the bottom of his carseat - he's getting so big!

Funny stats: We changed 237 diapers (give or take ~5) during the month of August (279 diapers in July), bringing us to a grand total of 519 diaper changes (including today) since Jackson has been alive. Uh... wow. That's a lot of poop.

And now a video of Mr. Jackson on his two month "mirthday":