Thursday, June 30, 2011

Less than 24 hours left on my current giveaway!



I just wanted to remind you that you've got less than 24 hours to enter my current giveaway from Goodies by Greiner. You have the chance to win 3 adorable little chipboard photo albums and entering takes only a few seconds! Here's where you go to enter: Photo Album Giveaway.

I also wanted to remind and encourage anyone who's interested in having a photo edited to send them to me!  I love to 'play' with photos and I'd love to edit one of your pictures for you!  Check out this post for details: Photo Editing.

I hope you all have a wonderful night and upcoming 4th of July weekend!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Wordless Wednesday #9


Happy Fourth of July!
Overall, I feel that I've been really good about keeping my Wordless Wednesdays wordless.  However, I've decided that this week's pictures could use captions, so here we go!

Our old 4th of July tradition- the crew having pizza and watching fireworks at the park in Red Wing, MN.  Back row: Bro-in-law (Chad), Mom (Sue), Dad (Brad).  Second Row:  Sister (Kris), Dog (Libby), Sister (Haley), Ryan, Me.  Front row: Nephew (Wiley), Niece (Autumn).
Wiley with his sparkler.

Autumn and her sparkler.

Our dog, Emmy, and I watching fireworks and enjoying her first 4th of July.  She is 3 months old here.

Ryan and I at our 4th of July/housewarming party in 2008. 

The 4th of July party became an annual tradition!  Here's some of the family.

At our 2009 4th party we announced that we were pregnant!

My Grandma Jan and Wiley playing some bean bags.

And here we are in 2010 at our party!  Notice the little red socks from 2 pictures ago!

Here are the cousins on Dad's side: Brennan, Evan, and Claire.

Ryan is the GRILL MASTER!

My Dad was having some sparkler fun.

A bunch of friends and family doing sparklers.

Our little family watching fireworks by the lake.  Brennan liked his first fireworks!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Our Town Festival- Waterski Days!


This last weekend was our town's yearly festival- Waterski Days!  Almost everyone gets out to enjoy some of the festivities.  Here are a few pictures from this year's annual petting zoo and Waterski Days parade.


Brennan was into the donkeys!

He liked the llamas, too.  He has a stuffed animal llama.

Getting sunscreened at the parade.  Also sporting his friend, Lorelai's, glasses.

Wow... Lorelai has cool toys!

My cute boy.

Lorelai and her Grandma, Lori watching the parade.

Brennan LOVED the firetrucks this year

Watching very seriously.

The Shriners are coming!!!

Brennan clapped for the Shriners the whole time!

Lorelai's fingers taste good!

Brennan was in awe of the bands. 

Watching all of the musicians walk by. 

Here are Heather and Ryan.

Brennan picking up his first piece of parade candy.

Sampling a Tootsie Roll... yum!  Big hit.

Lorelai started dancing to the band music

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Father's Day


I know that Father's Day was over a week ago, but I thought it would still be fun to share a little bit of what we did.  Most of Father's Day was pretty low-key, but there were definitely a few highlights.


In the afternoon, we took Brennan to a park nearby our house that is right next to the marina.  We had intended to feed the ducks, but for once, there were no ducks there!  Oh well.  We decided to do some good playing while we were there.  It was Brennan's first time really playing at a park!  He loved it!  This is a picture of Brennan's 1st ever  (I think...) slide ride!  He's got a big smile on his little face!  Daddy went along for the ride.


Next it was Mama's turn.  We went on the big curly slide together.  He would smile and squeal for more!  And, I'm not sure if you can tell, but I helped to celebrate Father's Day by wearing the shirt that I wear every year on Father's Day, albeit somewhat tight.  It says "I ❤ DAD"!  I think it's pretty classic and have been wearing it ever since I found it in the Old Navy kids' section during high school!

Pretty soon, Brennan was ready to move onto the swings.  He has his own swing at home, so we already knew that he would enjoy swinging.  Daddy and Brennan did it together.  You can't tell that Brennan is his Father's son, can you? 

Brennan kept trying to climb up onto the playground equipment and didn't really love that I kept telling him that he was too little.  He wasn't interested in the stairs and he really isn't old enough for the ladders yet!  So, we distracted him with a little ride on Dad's shoulders.  Although the ride was fun, trying to steal Dad's glasses was even MORE fun!

Ryan's phone rang and we found out that we were invited out that evening for a boat ride with one of Ryan's new friends from his EMT class and her husband!  We had to quickly go home, grab some extra clothes and snacks for the ride, and then come back down to the marina.  Of course, we couldn't leave without one last look at all of the pretty sailboats...

Pretty soon, we were on the boat and motoring out onto the lake.  Brennan has been on boat rides before, but not since last summer as a 5 month old, so this was kind of a first for him.  Here's what he thought:

Within seconds he had hopped off of my lap and was standing at the back of the boat watching EVERYTHING!  There were birds, the wake, other boats, and the shore that kept getting further and further away.  He was intrigued by it all.  After a few minutes of just taking in his surroundings, it was time to explore the boat!  He had to see what to get into!  Luckily, this was a very child friendly boat and anything that he found was ok to play with! 

Brennan wasn't really a huge fan of the life jacket, but I can't blame him!  They sit so tight up against a baby's neck and chin!  Plus, they're hot, bulky, tight all over, and feature this lovely thong strap that any kid is bound to enjoy!

After checking everything out, Brennan already apparently felt very confident in his boating abilities.  He decided to take a quick lesson boat driving and then take it for a spin!  He really was a great driver!


As the evening came to a close, the sun began to set, and Brennan's mood began to deteriorate, we headed back to the marina.  We put the flag out to fly and enjoy and Brennan took a minute to watch it wave in the breeze... soon enough I'll be able to explain to him exactly what that flag stands for.

It was a beautiful evening and a wonderful day.  Sometimes it is just so nice to spend a laid back day together as a family.  I hope Ryan enjoyed Father's Day as much as Brennan and I did.  Happy 2nd Father's Day, Ryan!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Amazing Diaper Rash Cream!


I don't know if this will benefit any of my readers at this very moment, but hopefully it will help in the future (although I'd rather not have any babies have diaper rashes ever!)!

Last week, my son got a diaper rash.  He gets them from time to time, even with his cloth diapers, mostly because I don't realize right away that that he needs to be changed.  Usually all I have to do to clear them up is treat the rash with a little lanolin for a day or two.  I'm sure this isn't great for the cloth diapers, but I only use a thin layer and don't seem to have a problem with them repelling.  If it is an especially bad rash, I put him in disposables for a day or two and coat the rash with a nice, thick coat of creamy Desitin.  That stuff really works miracles.

Unfortunately, this rash wouldn't clear up with my normal tactics.  I began to notice tiny, pin point, red spots in and around the rash that began to spread a little.  We did a little Google searching and figured out that it was a yeast infection.  Poor boy!  We went to the doctor the next morning and had it confirmed.  We were told to use a prescription cream, Nystatin, on the rash until it cleared up.

After a full day of using it the rash didn't look any better.  It actually looked a lot worse!  According to other Moms on Google, it is pretty common that the Nystatin doesn't work well... alone, that is.  I followed a recipe that one Mom was given from her local pharmacy and gave that a try.  Within hours the rash was clearing up!  It was totally gone within a couple of days and Brennan was 'enjoying' diaper changes again!  Thank goodness!

Here's the recipe: (of course, you should probably consult your doctor about this...)

Combine equal parts of an anti-fungal cream (Nystatin or another similar), Desitin, and Hydrocortisone cream and mix well.  Use at each diaper change.

Note to cloth diaper mamas.... Either use disposable or a liner in your cloth diapers when using this cream to avoid having to strip your diapers later!

I'm also wondering- would a combination of Desitin and Hydrocortisone cream work as well on a regular diaper rash instead of combining the anti-fungal for a yeast infection?  Has anyone tried this?  I'll let you know after the next diaper rash....

Good luck!

P.S.  Please enter my current giveaway of 3 chipboard albums from 'Goodies by Greiner'!  There is one week left on this giveaway and so far there are very few entries.  Take a second to enter because you have great chances of winning! Click here to enter the giveaway!