Katie and I ventured out a while back and created a company called, The Dotted Duck. It came into being because we love the products that we make and want to bless others with them as well.

Not only can you go to our website to purchase your favorite Towel Bibs, you can now go to Panache Interiors (located on 3630 410th St. ~ 3 miles north and 3/4 mile west of Orange City) and purchase Towel Bibs AND Cards. This shop has EVERYTHING! From home decor, jewelry, purses, and now Dotted Duck products.

In the near future you will find Burpies and maybe even a few new Dotted Duck creations. COME CHECK US OUT!!!!!

The Dotted Duck

Cloth Diapers

I took the plunge. Tucker is now in cloth diapers. My sister-in-law started Orin in them and really liked them. I let her figure out her system and work out the kinks and then decided to give them a try also.

We are using the Thirsties brand. I started with a small order of them, $60 or so. That included 6 Toddler Prefolds (unbleached) for bedtime, 6 Baby Prefolds (unbleached) for normal wear, 2 Covers (1 Duo with snaps size 2 and 1 Original size Med.), and 2 Snappies 1 Toddler and 1 Reg. I knew that I would need some smaller ones for double stuffing at night time but I had already had some cheap Target prefolds that I used as burp cloths when Lilly was little so I am using those.

Some things that I noticed so far is that Tucker doesn't sleep as long. He usually wakes up early from his naps-but most time goes back to sleep until 4pm and he's been waking up at 7 or 7:30am instead of 8 or 8:30am. I don't know if the wetness just makes him wake up or if it's something totally unrelated. For 2 nights in a row he's waken up early so tonight I am going to test it out and put a disposable diaper on him just to see if he wakes up early or not. If he doesn't, I may use cloth during the daytime and put a disposable on him at night. I will keep you all posted on my findings.

I have had a few leaks too, but I did with disposables too so I am not too concerned with that. It's been nothing out of the ordinary in my opinion.

I double stuffed the diaper the first night and didn't like how it fit Tucker. It was too bulky and I felt like he couldn't move around very good (bull legged) and it looked uncomfortable, so the 2nd night I did not double stuff it and he still didn't leak. The 3rd night (last night) he did leak a bit up his front so I may have to experiment a bit with that.

I like the duo covers because they will take me all the way to potty training without having to buy another size (since I already got size 2, with a new baby I will have to buy size 1 covers). I do like the velcro closure a bit more because it is wider than the snaps so it keeps the prefold tucked inside a little better at the top, which in turn prevents the leakage.

Laundry method: For the diapers, I take the cloth diaper pail (a garbage can with plastic big in it) to the laundry room and dump them inside. I soak them in baking soda (there's already a little baking soda in the pail for smell reasons and then I add a little more in the wash) in cold water. Then I wash them with hot water for a cycle and then rinse them in cold water one last time. I am currently using laundry detergent from Norwex, it's working well. Any detergent that has a simple formula will work well, nothing that brightens or has fillers in it (they say Walmart brand is good to use). I usually dry them in the dryer for a little bit and just hang them up to dry the rest of the way. For the covers-I just hand wash them in the sink sometimes with just water, sometimes I add a little soap and then just hang them to dry.

I feel like the extra laundry isn't a big deal for me because I am able to stay home and do laundry every day if I have to. Once my final order comes in I will aim to do diaper laundry every 4 days or so. Again, that could adjust as we go.

My final order for cloth is as follows: (for future reference) 12 Baby Prefolds (unbleached), 2 Snappies (1 Reg 1 Toddler), 4 Duo Covers (size 2, 3 with velcro, 1 with snaps).

One last bit of info so I don't forget. I decided not to cloth diaper Thatcher b/c he's almost ready to potty train-but we'll see. I have Toddler Prefolds so I could just do it anyway to save money for a little bit. As you can tell, I am still figuring things out. Tucker goes through 112-126 diapers a month. Pampers Baby Dry diapers from Diapers.com (the cheapest place I have found them) cost $.25 for sz 4 and $.29 for sz 5 a diaper. So every time I put a cloth diaper on I am saving at least a quarter. I have figured that in a little over 3 months I will have recouped all of my costs. That's exciting to me.

As Katie quoted in her blog, "they do add a whole new dimension of adorableness."

Fun with Daddy

The other night while it was storming outside we got water in our basement again. We knew that our gutters must be clogged because the water was just spilling over them instead of running through them. So Daddy came to the rescue and cleaned them out for us. Thatcher and Lilly were behind him every step of the way. As he was on the ladder, the kids were 1 rung below him. My Dad happened to be here that same weekend and I told him that there was him 20+ years ago with me standing right below him. It was very cool to see (for me at least, Adam was probably thinking otherwise)

Eventually Adam let them, one at a time, up onto the roof. He told them they might as well get used to it because it'll be their job one day--working for Dad.

Dance Recital

This past weekend we got to experience what dance recital weekend was all about. By no means were we as busy as some of those moms. My goodness, I learned a lot from them for what to do if or when Lilly continues with this dance craze.
Some things to remember for the future:
-Flowers are a nice gift for your child(ren) as a reward for doing their best
-Use Rubbermaid totes to lug all their stuff along-this is easy to carry and keeps all their belongings together
-Sponge curlers work AWESOME if their hair is too short for the bun. Put them in when the hair is wet and let her play until her hair dries up. Take them out and that's it. Easy as pie.
-Bring fun activities along (in their younger yrs at least) to past time in between acts. The backstage moms were wonderful in keeping them entertained by coloring, watching videos, and snacks
-Video tape their rehearsal

Lilly practiced all school year long for this dance recital and she did MAGNIFICENT! She just loves to perform. I think that I was more nervous than she was. In fact, I experienced a whole new dimension of motherhood. I had butterflies in my stomach just as if I were the one waiting to dance on that stage (I felt just like I did back in the day when I played sports), it was so strange. I didn't want her to mess up or feel embarrassed. After talking to my Mother-in-law she said that she knows exactly what I mean, as I'm sure all you moms do who have kids in activities. I was not prepared for this at all, I am not sure I like it all that much and it is only just the beginning. We'll have to see how this all plays out in the future.

Here's Lilly getting ready for her BIG night:

Fun in the Sun

I feel like I say this every time, but WOW I can't believe it's been 2 1/2 months since I last posted, sorry. I feel like I am not a very faithful blogger.

Anyway...It's hard to believe it's summer time, especially since nothing's really changed for our family-as far as kids are concerned (they're not school-aged yet) and our jobs don't change with the seasons (except Adam is extremely busy). We are so blessed in many ways!

Just thought that I would update a little with our life (I will do multiple blogs to stay organized). We've been able to put our pool and water/sand table to good use in the past few weeks. We decided to nix the sand part and just fill their table with water on both sides. The kids just LOVE to play with it and who needs that sand mess anyway?

I just let Tucker hang out in his exersaucer at first because I don't know why. I did give him snacks too, but eventually he just wanted in on the fun so...


...I let him have at it, with his clothes on. He played very nicely at first.

(I just love his facial expression here)

but eventually he couldn't hold his excitement back.

Preschool

Thursday was a busy busy day for the Doughan house. We had our tax appointment in the morning, Lilly had dance at noon, I had to register Lilly for preschool in the afternoon, and then we were off to Swea City to visit my family for the weekend.
I just can't believe that I am a mom of a preschooler now...and it didn't come at an easy task.

We decided that Covenant Kids was the best place for Lilly to go, along with just about every other family in Orange City (maybe I am exaggerating a bit) but you know what I mean. I had heard that people start standing in line THREE hours before the doors open for registration, so right away I thought, these people are CRAZY. So what do I do???? I ask my dear husband if he'd come home from work early and watch the kids so I could be a crazy mom and stand in line for THREE hours.

The school did put some guidelines in place this year. People could not park in the parking lot or in front of the school before 3:35pm. So I went at 2:30 and parked across the street facing the school so I could keep my eye on the door and the line (whenever it did start forming). I even brought some work to do and just hung out in my van for the afternoon.


At about 3:20 the chaos begun. I saw a gentlemen actually go into the school and then come back out while at the same time 2 more women parked it outside the front doors so I joined them. We were all standing there when the Principal came out and asked us to stand across the street until 3:45 (because that's when the grounds are pretty much cleared from kids getting out of school). So there we were, standing on the corner waiting for our ok to form our line in front of the school. Keep in mind that the doors actually didn't open until 4:30 and registration didn't begin for another hour after that.

When it was all said and done, I was the fourth person in line and I DID get Lilly into this, what seems to be, awesome school. I have no idea how many people ended up being there. I think about 40 which is the magic number. There were 20 spots open for the am session and 20 for the pm session.

So, come August Lilly will be attending preschool M-TH from 8:15-11:15 at Covenant Kids. We are so excited for this new adventure! Lilly's a bit more leery--she's scared of growing up. She just wants to remain Daddy's Little Princess.

Lilly is FOUR (Part 2)

I know, it's been waaaay too long since I have last posted. I could blame it on a lot of things: tax season, three kids, babysitting, just enjoying my family, but I am not going to. It's just been too long, sorry.

I am going to let the pictures do most of the talking. Enjoy!

Some of my friends
(They all received their own personalized birthday hats)

The Cake & Gift Table

Gift Opening
Having a Grand Time

Tucker got to sport Lilly's new hair bow-don't tell Adam I posted this :)
So there you go. Lilly's now 4 and loving every minute of it. I am going to be registering her for preschool next week, I just can't believe it.