Phtotgraphy Classes

 So I started taking a photography class online. I was tipped off to a great course through a photographer friend of mine to a sale on this and I thought about it, but then they had a super sale in honor of a formers student's birth which brought down the price to a fraction of what it normally was and I jumped on it! I am really pleased so far with the course and I am only on week two! I thought I knew a lot and knew the basics of what I was doing BUT turns out I just only scartched the surface of things to know! I would like to share just a few pictures of what I am doing and a brief explanation for those likeThe Marine who just have no idea!

This is just a candle bucket on the deck at my inlaws house. The assignment was to show color and I thought this was a great example of color!


f/3.5, ISO-100, 1/80sec, no flash, spot metering, white balance set to the overcast sky setting. around 6000K I believe

 This is the side to an old box truck I saw while taking pictures at a funeral home. I thought it was really cool.

f/5, ISO-100, 1/1600sec, no flash, ccenter weighed metering, white balance set to sunny

 This is an old rotting pumpkin set in a flower pot at The Marine's Aunt/Uncle house. It was pretty cool cause it wasn't a rancid pumpkin but a gracefully decaying one!


f/4, ISO-100, 1/160sec, no flash, center weighed metering, white balance was auto.

 Rusty old wagon filled with water. I wanted to capture the reflection of the handle in the water.

f/2.8, ISO-200, 1/30sec, centyer weighed metering, no flash, white balance was auto.













 Thats all for now. I understand most of the time this bores people!

A Blog About Failure

 This is about a thing that happened way back last summer but it still boils me to this day. I had written a blog about it a while back on an old blog that I forgot the log-in info for, opps. So here is a blog about a failure first class.
 Let's start with this senerio:
 You have this class you want to attend one Saturday and it will take the whole day, but what to do with your kids? Your husband has to work that day but work says he will be able to take care of the children so you don't worry about it. You just assume taking care of the children means he will be able to do just that. As the day approaches you learn that taking care of the children does not mean at home where things would be easy, it means at your husbands work. You assume that maybe it's not so bad and he will still be able to take care of the children even if it is at work and when nap time rolls around he will take them home for a nap. The day of this class you come to find out that the choldcare provided actually is a small room set up at your husbands work with some coloring books, a few crayons, some nasty lunchables meals and crackers, and for nap time blue gym mats on the floor. Not only that it also means that your husband will be frequently leaving them during the day to actually work and not take care of them this mean either leave them unattended in this room or leave them in the hands of some stranger. When faced with this what would you have done? Keeping in mind the ages of the children at the time are 25 months and 9 months. Would you have left them for this class that isn't exactly important but something you would have liked to attened anyway.
 Well this is what I was faced with last summer. I had a L.I.N.K.S class I wanted to attened for the unit my husband is in and was assured The Marine would be able to take care of the kids during the whole legth of the class, that childcare was provided. The childcare provided was a complete and total fail in my eyes. I have been to links classes before and the Marines who had children always had the day off to take care of the kids, in fact even without kids they had the day off if the wife went to the class....so why on earth was that so hard to do with this unit? I personally would not have left my two dogs in the so called "childcare" provided for that day. I really want to know who's idea that was and on what level they thought that was perfectly acceptable. So I didn't go to the class and I ended up babysitting a child of another wife who did go to the class because she wasn't leaving her son in that disgrace either. It was a good thing as my husband later reported that he would have been watching and caring for our children for a whole of half an hour total that day because he was always so busy with whatever else was going on at the unit. That means my kids would have been in whoever's hands, a person I would have not known? To change diapers and feed them, and to some how mamange a nap for them on freaking blue gym mats?! Seriously whos idea was that?!?!?! Were you smoking crack at the time? Let's review for a second just for fun!
-some coloring books and a few crayons. really that was all the activites for the day? My 9month old would have eaten the crayons all day and the attention span of a 2yr old is about a second...so what else were they supposed to do?
-lunchable meals, really? I wouldn't feed that over processed garbage to my cat let alone my two kids.
-blue freaking gym mats laid on the floor so they could nap on that?! really?!?! do you have kids? Maybe mine are really weird and prefer beds to sleep in and will not sleep in an enviroment like that will not for any reason would they have taken a nap unless fed sleeping pills.
-who was watching them all day while their father was running off doing this and that and everything for everybody?


 so really wth? this in my honest opinion is the highlight of the word fail and dare I say epic fail. way to go whoever planned that childcare event. I have my hunch on who it was but that I will go ahead and keep to myself for now. Call me a crazy mom but that was 100% unacceptable. Maybe ok for a gerbil but I don't like gerbils

I Often Want a Village

 I was reading up on some of my favorite blogs today one from The Feminist Breeder about how she gets so much done because she has this amazing village to help with the kids, cleaning, cooking, laundry, and all that awesome stuff I alone take care of. I honestly got a tad insanely jealous of her and all her help. I imagined what I could do if I had even half that kind of help then I looked at my disaster living room while my Ladybug pushed Mister down for the hundreth time this morning, I wanted to cry. I am here at home with my two children who are barely 16 months apart one who has major "mine" issues and the other who doesn't talk at all so he cries at literally everything and anything or for anything and everything. My house is trashed, toys explodes from the toy room (what a noble idea that was...a room just for toys?! HA) to the entry, to the living room including all over the couches, to the laundry room, through the dining room and kitchen and then back around to the toy room. My kitchen remains messy from two of the past meals and a dishwahser needing to be emptied (hey I at least remembered to run it!). I want to cry when I think about the never ending and continuing to pile up on me amount of laundry I have and I often try to hide it under the bed just so I don't have to see it.

I want a village please.

 If I had a village imagine what life could be like. A home cooked meal every meal time (I honestly strive for this and I get burnt out cooking everything quickly), the kitchen would be clean after every cooking mess I make, laundry could come out from it's hiding places and get clean and maybe evern put away too, I could get to the post office maybe.... I wish I had family close enough to call and say hey mind watching the kids while I run out real fast and do x-y-and z. Yes I have The Marine's parents about an hour away but it's far enough to have to call in advance and plan trips for things, plus I honestly feel like I am such a burden asking them for help even though they say it's their pleasure to be with the kids....plus did you see gas prices?! yikes! My mom and a brother live about 13hrs away in North Carolina, my dad and step mom another 12hrs away in Ohio, a brother in Reno, sister in law in Kansas (dang it she has perfectly aged babysitter children too). So here I am with my kids and a husband who is married first of all to his job....so my house is messy-I am uneducated (when compared to some other people who have help)-laundry needs to be done and meals need to be cooked.... I do them all.

 Then I read this blog and felt renewed about my messy insane life. I have these two kids here playing and laughing I get to stay home with them!!! Lucky for me cause the majority of people have no choice but to go back to work and leave kids with daycare centers. Yep I almost never have a day when both kids are in gloriously happy moods, nobody cries or get yelled at or where time outs don't exist. Yep I complain a lot to my husband and often times beg him to come home to help me and let me get away. When I sit and think I know it could be worse...right?! :-p I am in all honesty blessed to have this life and while we face the uncertain future I need to just take a step away from the negitive downage and enjoy what the things in this life i enjoy the most. I still want a village to help me and I am still jealous of those who do it but this is my life and I don't think I would trade it for anything!

I am the Worlds Worst Mail-er

 Ok I sit here and I think I am just awful, purely awful. I have things sitting in my laudry room that I have been meaning to mail for over 3 months now. Yep you have read that right over three months. Actually scratch that I have thank you cards from Mister's first birthday party back in September that I failed to mail out.

I am the worlds worst mail-er. The worst. 

 Right now my neice and her brother are sitting around playing without the toys we got them for Christmas, because they sit perfectly wrapped in perfect boxes I paid for and failed to mail. I bought The Marine a new pair of Oakley boots for Christmas and because he told me the wrong size they needed to be returned, another fail. My niece was teething again and I failed to mail out the last of the teething tabs I found (yes I understand they were recalled hence why I was mailing them don't get into it with me about those). I have pictures to be mailed to my mom and brother in North Carolina and I failed at those.

 Now normally I am good about mail. If I have stamps I can easily do that. In fact I have mailed out things that required only stamps with great success. It is not my fault my mail carrier here sucks at life and something happened along the way and they failed to make it to their destination (that happened a few times). I wish everything just required a stamp....or that I could wait by my mailbox and pay for the packages with my mail carrier right there and mail them out....IDEA PEOPLE!!!!!!!! In all honesty I am the worlds worst person at actually going to the post office and mailing anything let me list my reasons excuses:

1.  I am unsure where an actual close post office is near me. Yep lived in this house for 18months and I don't know where the closest post office is. I think it's on Wynn drive but I could be mistaken.
2. I hate dragging the children out for that. For some reaosn the post office can turn the worlds best behaved children into deamon monsters straight form hell. It's in the air I am sure of it. I have seen it and the look of dispare on the mothers face as she says over and over "they normally are so good for me" as the children throw boxes-rip papers-and write on walls with a marker...I could just wait till I have kid free time and go myself but ha...you must not know that kid free time never happens for me....ever. No family close enough to say hey come over watch these things while I go out to mail stuff...and a husband who works until well after post offices close.
3. That cost money and the cost keep raising and hey lets face it...I am cheap!!! cheap cheap cheap...I know what is the point of me buying things with great intentions then failing to mail them though... in my mind some how this makes perfect sense....just try not to think about it

 Sad excuses huh? I know I know but hey I have so much on my plate and my main reason of dragging two young kids out just to stand in line and fork over money is ugh in my eyes! So to my family I am sorry you know the worlds worst mail-er. Maybe some day they will make a pill for it!! One can only hope I guess. I do have a goal this week... some how if The Marine gets home in time...he needs to find me a post office! He can stay in the car with the kids I will wheel in my mounds of mailable mail and get it out of my house... maybe!

Oh a Doula-ing I go

 Yep that's right I am a registered student with Child Birth International as a birth doula!!! I decided to go just with the birth doula right now for a few different reasons. 1.) to save money right now-after what we found out in Flordia saving money needs to be a priority right now for us and while the Doula thing can hopefully make a nice return investment the breastfeeding councelor part wasn't in the cards right away. When we are able to be steady again I will go on to do that as well 2.) I don't want to be over-worked with classes right now, so starting out with just this is a great plan. It has been near 10years since high school and I have not studied anything since! 3.) I plan on taking an online photography class soon as well and having three things going on at once didn't seem smart!

 Ok so a doula-ing I go!!! I am excited, I am officially a student. After weeks months of thinking and talking about this I am finally paid for in full a student!!! EEEEEEPPPPP!!!!!!!! so now I want this and this lol cute bag I love it!!! I know I am jumping ahead of myself a little with the wanting gear!! SO here I am I have my course work open and I am taking a quick break to blog! I should be getting hard copies of my course work in the mail so I don't have to be sitting online I can read them in my hand and I like that better, doesn't hurt my eyes as much!

 DOULA!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOHHHOOOOOO!!!

a little excited!

Toomer's Trees

 So maybe by now you have heard about the poisioning of the Toomer's oak trees down there at Auburn University and how it was done by some insane old guy cause he is a sore loser when Alabama didn't win a football game. Ya I know seriously talk about a sore loser there with a whole cup of crazy added in, get this he is an ex cop too! Hello did you not know how illegal this was? Did you forget that cops can trace phone calls? Did you forget that giving you real name is a stupid get you caught kind of trick? Well dumbass you have been caught and your picture plastered all over every single news station in the state of Alabama's nightly news, everybody here hates your guts. I wonder if he thought that Alabama fans would think what he did was awesome, they do not at all.  An awesomely classy website on face book and twitter has popped up Tide for Toomers they are raising boat loads of money to help save these 130year old trees. Despite team rivalry this has brought the two colleges together in trying to save these magestic trees.
  So why does this Ohio State fan care anyway? .....simple..... this insane asshole did this to kill teo trees, to kill something made by nature. WTH! No big secret I am a tree hugger so seeing this story makes me so mad and upset because the 130 year old live oaks are not in favor of surviving the lethal doses of the poison. Why trees? Why couldn't he just spray paint some profanity on something? Or break something? I mean I am not at all saying go out and do stupid things but there was no stopping this brand of crazy really...why target the trees?!?! It really pisses me off! I am happy he was caught, I mean after all of the trail he left he couldn't have been going free.... might as well just made himself a shirt saying he did it. Dumbass called a radio station, used his real name, where he lived, and told them what he did and that he didnt care. Here comes a favorite word-----fucktard! (sorry grandma)
 I hope the trees make it I really do. Poor trees don't hurt anybody, they are only here trying to help us all survive!

I am so sorry son

Mister,
 I write to express my deepest apologies for what happened 4 days after your birth. The regret and guilt is put in my face every day, many times a day, I feel horrible in my soul for what happened. I could've prevented it, I could have saved you. I didn't because I just thought like so many other people it wasn't a big deal and it was easier and better to just do it. I was wrong and I am forever sorry. I am talking about the day you were needlessly cut, when you were circumscised.
 It was never something I thought much about after we found out you were a boy for sure. I just assumed we would leave you alone, after all we weren't birthing in a hospital. Your father (yep I am placing blame here) said once he wanted you to look like him (and from the page of Penn and Teller what father and son have dick comparing contests?). I kinda said no I would just like to leave you as you were but your father (again the blame as I try to make myself feel better) said we needed to do it. I should have educated myself more and him more about it. I should've said no harsh and firm not my baby he is perfect the way he is. Care of an intact penis is no more a pain than caring for a wounded cut penis. But I didn't I just said ok fine cause The Marine was going along with my plans to birth you out of hospital I should give in to his one request as it was put one day.... where was my backbone then?
 So at one check up we asked our midwife where we could get it done and she gave us the name of a local doctor who does it for her patients for cost that is all. We called and talked to her, she said she had done each of her son's herself (holy cow woman!) and that it's easy just come to the office on a day she was closed and she would do it there. Ok so it was "quick" "easy" I guess I stuck with those two words and just went on thinking it would then be ok. I talked myself into thinking it would be fine, you would be fine, I would be fine.          wrong wrong wrong.
 You were born in such a gentle peacful way. Quick and easy after you were out my first words were not of your beauty, nope I said "holy shit is that all, that was easy!" We marvled over you, loved on you, nursed you, and changed an intact perfect little boy's diaper for 5 days before it was time. My mom had drove down from North Carolina that weekend, I thought it would be easy to have her watch your big sister while it was being done. I didn't know that we would all be in the same room or of any of the horrors that were about to take place.
 It was rainy and cold, dark and gloomy that day that we drove the 40minutes to the doctors family pratice clinic. 40 long minutes of me being nervous and wanting to go home, 40minutes of my mom and your dad saying it would be ok just calm down. We got there on time but the doctor was late, like half an hour late. Why didn't we just leave?!  I wish we would have left after 15minutes of waiting...to save you. I had knots in my tummy looking at you asleep so sweetly in your carseat. It was cold outside, it felt almost numbing to me. She finally showed up and we went in. The place was an older house converted to doctors office. The waiting room had comfy chairs and couches, the middle couch was the one you were to be cut on. She got right to work getting everything clean, prepared, and ready for you. I held you, rocked you, bounced you, wanting to run away with you, wanting to say ok change of mind give the doctor money for making her come out but I want to leave him alone. I didn't, I was a coward.
 As soon as the metal hit your little penis you screamed like nothing I had heard from you before. 5 days old and knowing this type of horrid pain, what were you thinking? You screamed, screamed bloody murder loudly. Shaking and in a cold sweat. Our eyes locked once and I then had to close my eyes...I couldn't bare it. i wanted to leave... I cried and I cried hard. So hard that the doctor said I needed to stop and hold you down harder. Your cries will be burned into my soul forever, you cold clammy sweaty little stick body after I was finally able to hold you will never leave my memory. You didn't want to nurse afterward, and the doctor kept saying make him nurse it will make him feel better. How? How will it make him feel better? You just mulitated him, cut him open and removed a part of him that doesn't need to be removed.
 The drive home I cried while you were finally passed out from the pain, everybody said he is fine see he isn't even crying anymore. You were passed out from the pain probably, shock probably set in somewhat. I wasn't fine either...I kept thinking I am so sorry...so so so sorry. For days you cried at every diaper change, I made your father change you I couldn't bare seeing you look like that, so hurt. I still hate changing your diapers and seeing your pain...I know it doesn't hurt anymore but it hurts me, hurts my soul. Why didn't I save you?
 I am so sorry my son.


 I am commited to keeping any future son I have intact no matter what. I don't care what the Marine says, what my inlaws say, what you have to say. Any future son of mine will be left intact at all costs. My foot is down permentally on this issue. I wish I had done so many things differently with Mister, ran when we had the chance. Said no when I had the chances, educated myself more and the Marine too. I wish I would have talked with my student midwife with my husband...she would have shown us the way (she is against it). I live with the regret and guilt and I always will. I feel badly and the sound of his cries will always be burned into my mind... it is not the simple and easy thing that people tell you. babies don't sleep through it. Babies can feel every single painful second of it too. I failed my son 5 days after his birth. I wonder if he had been left intact would he be the same intense child he is now...always fussing and unhappy seeming, always waiting for something bad to happen. I wonder.... I will never know. I am so sorry my son.

Natural Childbirth and what it means to me.

 I like to think I am a natural birth junkie. I had one attempt at it and caved, back labor is a major bitch! I had a second attempt at it and did beautifully, although I am unsure how much longer than 5hrs I would have been happy about that. So what is natural childbirth these days? Some people say a vaginal delivery because they don't like to say the word vaginal. Some say natural childbirth and delivery is without any drugs at all through the whole thing and relying on you to work with your body because hey this is what we were made for! The  you have people in between those two who pick and choose what they lable natural. Here is a little rant on my views of childbirth
  The American medical system has so many women fooled into believing they are broken and cannot do what we are made to do... thus comes the parade of inteventions! Lets review this parade! Here is how I like to see labor go, how I labored with my son:
 My water broke on it's own when I was term, nobody pushed induction even if he was suspected "big"
 I labored without an IV, no pushy nurses trying to stick me with anything
 I labored and enjoyed food and drink, because really your body is running a marathon why starve it?
 I labored in water position I wanted, being tied down to bed on your back makes contractions worse.
 I labored without stupid machines attached to my belly, studies have proven that constant fetal monitoring is no more probelm preventing than intermitten doppler monitoring.
 I labored free of annoyance and distraction, I aslo was not in a hospital.
 I as able to get into a nice warm birth pool, even if it was like 5 minutes before I felt pushy (wasn't wanting a water birth)
 I pushed when my body felt like pushing, nobody coached and yelled out numbers and told me to get mad at the baby and push it out... why get mad at the baby?! I never understood that.
 I pushed in the postion I found most comfrotable for me, yes it happened to be in bed on my back but that is what felt right for me had this not been the case I could've been pushing however I wanted!
 My baby came out and laid right on me close to me, not taken away to a warmer
 My baby's cord was not clamped until it was done pulsing he got all the blood he needed
 My baby nursed as soon as the cord was cut-he would have been nursing sooner has his cord not been super short!
My baby never left my side-never had the stupid eye gunk or newborn shots (seriosuly why give a newborn a shot of an std?), my baby only knew me and only stayed with me (and The Marine too)
 We went home hours later and I spent the night at home with my new family of four!

  This to me is natural childbirth. Natural meaning let the mom do her thing, let her body work and take over. Birth is such an amazing process! I believe in good prenatal care and if mom is not having any probelms there should be zero reason to mess with her during labor...just be there to catch the baby and leave the rest alone! I love midwives (not so much medwives...) they know a woman, they know a womans body, they can read women during labor just by a look or a moan...midwives are amazing and respectful. The United States world needs more midwives for deliver more babies if that is in a hospital, at home, or if your state has beyond stupid laws and you drive across states lines and deliver at the midwive's house then so be it... We need to respect birth more and let nature be. We women need to listen to our bodies more and stop listening to the fear pushing cut happy doctors out there.
 The show One Born Every Minute really makes me mad...I cannot watch it at all without flipping out at the tv. Same with A Baby Story those shows just push out there stupid crap about how we as women cannot have babies without the knight in shining armor  doctor coming in and saving the day and helping the baby come out faster....

Trust Birth.

Trust Your Body.

Trust Yourself.

Penscola-Photography

First ocean view
f/5.6, shutter speed 1/4000sec, ISO-100, no flash

View from our balcony in our hotel room. Lucky it was the off season and I was able to get us a real nice room right on the beach with a small view.

from the beach in front of the hotel looking down to the pier at sunset

f/13, shutter speed 1/640sec, iso-100, no flash

full auto mode. Dwontown Pensacola at night. The Marine Corps bird

Same bird only the front.

Same bird same night. f/1.4, shutter speed 1/13sec, ISO-800, no flash, focal length 50mm

f/1.4, shutter speed 1/13sec, ISO-800, no flash, focal legth 50mm

taken from the truck window going about 40mph. f/4.5, shutter speed 1/4000sec, iso-400, focal legth 50mm, no flash

Gulf Islands National Seashore Pensacola bay f/1.4, shutter speed 1/4000sec (forgot to lower it from driving earlier), ISO-100, no flash, focal legth 50mm



Gulf Islands National Seashore Pensacola Bay. f/8, shutter speed 1/25-sec, iso-100, no flash, focal legth 50mm

no idea the fstop old old lense and my camera didn't really work well with it. iso-100, shutter speed 1/250sec, no flash.

I just liked this log lol. f/16, shutter speed 1/25sec, iso-100, focal legth 50mm, no flash.
 I feel like its too white and bright though, I used spot metering...any tips out there? it was extremely bright on that beach

beach jelly fish, dead and washed ashore. they were no bigger than my hand and i had found probably 10 of them during my walk along the shore.
f/16, shutter speed 1/25sec, iso-100, no flash, focal length 50mm

Old Fort Pickens. Taken from the truck doing maybe 20mph. f/2,5, shutter speed 1/4000sec, iso-100 no flash.

Canon facing out a window. f/2.8, shutter speed 1/100sec, iso-800, no flash, focal legth 50mm

Input wanted here...the window light is too bright...how do I avoid this next time around?

f/2,8, shutter speed 1/200sec, iso-800, no flash, focal legth 50mm.

I dislike heights when I fear falling down...like this...I dont trust old steps or rusty rails!

f/5, shutter speed 1/200sec, iso-100, no flash focal legth 50mm

Taken from the top of another part of the fort looking at the entry part of the fort.

f/8, shutter speed 1/250sec, iso-100, no flash, focal legth 50mm

f/2, shutter speed 1/200sec, iso-800, no flash, focal legth 50mm

f/5, shutter speed 1/640sec, iso-200, no flash, focal legth 50mm

steps to the big canons on top of the fort.

f/4, shutter speed 1/640sec, iso-200 no flash, focal legth 50mm

the large canon sitting atop the old fort. f/9, shutter speed 1/2000sec, iso-200, no flash

f/4, shutter speed 1/400sec, iso-200, no flash

f/2.8, shutter speed 1/400sec, iso-200, no flash.

I personally just love this one! f/2.8, shutter speed 1/400sec, iso-200, no flash

sun setting on the old fort. f/16, shutter speed 1/100sec, iso-800, no flash. I think it's a bit grainy but I like it mostly.

same shot really lol I just like it. f/16, shutter speed 1/250sec, iso-800, no flash

f/5, shutter speed 1/1600sec, iso-1600, just playing around with more settings...

just down from the actual fort they have randon canon batteries this is one of those random conon batteries, wish I could have remembered their names!

f/2, shutter speed 1/200sec, iso-200, no flash

love sunsets on beaches! f/1.4, shutter speed 1/80sec, iso-1600, no flash

view from on the pier. I was trying to give the waves a dreamy flowly look... how did I do?

f/10, shutter speed 1/800sec, iso-100, no flash

he was wlaking on water....or so it looked like until he came closer and he was paddling on a surf board lol

f/10, shutter speed 1/800sec, iso-100

fishing pier. f/10, shutter speed 1/400sec, iso-10

Fishing bait. f/10, shutter speed 1/400sec, iso-100

and then my camera batteries died :( f/7.1, shutter speed 1/250sec, iso-100

and so concludes my Pensacola in photography blog. If you were my facebook friend you already saw all these pictures, if you have no idea the things I wrote under each one then thats fine...neither does The Marine! I am not sure I said everything right when I was writing about the settings I was using on my camera...I said it before I am just learning after having this camera for like 2 years! so photography people who read my blog what do you think? suggestions...tips?

Penscola-What we know and what we don't

 So as many of my readers already know The Marine and I went down to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Flordia for a 6 month review of his limited duty status pending his med review board for his lupus. We had gone down last August (with the kids as a mini vacation) and they had put him on limited duty then for 6 months and wanted a follow up so we had gone back (without the kids). Here is what we do know right now:

1. He is back on another 6 months of limited duty
2. the Navy doctor there needs all records from Nashville, and for some reason they were not put in his medical files even though they were faxed down from Nashville so the Navy doctor could not review lap work from 6 months ago until now...which she wanted to do.
3. The Navy doctor was very pleased to see such an imporvement in the skin rash
4. Navy doc did tell us that if The Marine is required to me on any Immunosuppressives type of drugs than he will de deemed non-deployable and that status means he cannot deploy to where he is needed for his job, she said is a huge thing they look at and would most likely be kicked out for that reason.
5. The Marine's Nashville doctor has already told him before she wants him to be on immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of his life....
6. The Marine is currently NOT taking any drugs at all and his doctors are unaware of this...he has only improved since he stopped taking any meds vastly
7. We have another appointment in Nashville the beginning of March when we will talk about the need for meds or not. As of now his skin rash is almost totally gone without being on meds...so maybe he doesn't needs them but thats why we are going back up to talk.
8. He has to go back to Pensacola in another 6 months as a final review. From there his medical packet will or won't be turned over the Washington DC. If it is then he faces great chances (about a 99% chance) of being discharged, depending. If it isn't sent to DC then he just has these notes in his records and will have time to time reviews of his healthy status.
9. If it goes to DC and they say yep discharge him because he is not fit for duty then we don't know what happens. The Navy doctor said based on time of service he might get so little as a thank you for your service...no benefits nothing...but we have heard from other people that if you get an illness like this while in service it's a medical retiremenmt meanings benefits....
10. we WANT to stay in the Marines....don't want to get out, benefits/pay/healthcare is what we want for our family... without the Marine Corps we have no plan   

   ok and here is what we do NOT know:

1.  if he will be just discharged or medically retired. I supposed we could go to base legal or jag and see what exactly his rights are and how this works...
2. if he gets a retirement what kkind of benefits we will get....if any. there is a chance they could just cut a check and say thanks.
3. what his Nashville doctors are going to say about him not being on any meds....
4. what is going to happen at all in the future.

  OK that is the recap.... basically when we walked out of the Naval Hospital we felt like we really need to prepare for the worst as it seems like things are leaning towards a discharge with or without benefits. Things do not looks good. We will know more after we go to Nashville and talk there....

Now for a Nurse Gloom story:
 while getting checked in and waiting on the doctor to be ready we sat in the nurses room waiting. She made a little small talk asking why he was here and The Marine explained a little about it to which she says "oh they medically discharged my nephew last year and he became so depressed he shot himself in the head a few months later" WTF nurse doom and gloom? yep, she went on to tell us how he was injured in Iraq and when they discharged him they loaded him up on so many pills and he shot himself in the head outside a VA hospital last year.... well thank you very much for the upbeat positive stories about how life will be after they kick you out Nurse FuckFace....ugh!!!!

Valentine's Day Crafts!

 So Monday is yet another halmark created holiday aimed at making men spend oddles on pointless gifts or face the wrath of an angry girlfriend/fiancee/wife. We women get it pretty easy, I mean really what woman goes all out of this holiday for their man? I got The Marine a card, that is all he needs really. He doesn't ever ask for anything and if you try and ask him what he wants he says nothing....then if I do have some stroke of genius he figures it out like in a nano-second....soooooo.... yep I got him a card! I also do not want, nor need anything and I hope he doesn't think to buy me anything cause I just bought myself a new camera lens and the amount I spent on it equals Christmas+Birthday gift money...soooo yep Marine don't get me anything! I never really bought into this whole holiday anyway! BUT it is a great fun excuse to make cookies and other themed things with the children!!
 First thing we did was make Nana and Papa some 'cards' since they will have the kids on Valentine's day I thought it would be nice for them to have home-made cards from the kids. I laid out our handy shower curtain on the living room floor, brought out the "washable" (I put that in quote cause crayola thinks washasble means mommy has to time to scrub each kid in the bathtub after use...not my idea of washable) paints, I cut out different sized hearts from construction paper to use with glue, I brought out their toddler sized paint brushes, and finally let them go to town on two large sized pieces of construction paper. I also had bought at target's cheap dollar bargin area some cute stickers with googly eyes!

                                            (yep took this blurry pic on purpose. As you know I am not much for posting my kids on the blog)

So they had a blast painting, glueing, sticking, and generally making the biggest mess possible. Thank you shower curtain!!! So we laid those out to dry and will present them to nana and papa later when we drive up there tonight.

 Next we made cute peanut butter and jelly cookies! I had gone to a wic appointment Wednesday and they gave us a fun kids cookbook and this was one of the treats in there, very simple to make and Ladybug really enjoyed helping mixing the dough and then spooning out onto the cookie sheet! I then flattened the mounds and made a heart shape in the middle with some pumpkin carving tools. I then used a simple pastery bag to pipe in the jelly into the heart shapes to make the middles. That part was a bit annoying but they turned out really cute!

(carving out the heart centers and then I just pressed down the middle to make an indent for the jelly)

(piping in the jelly hearts. Using the pastery bag was the easier way that I thought to do this only cause I had left overs)

(ready to go in the oven!! if you do make these use a good amount of jelly in the middle it just tastes better!!)

(after being baked!! ready to be eaten!!!)
 So the peanut butter and jelly heart cookies turned out very yummy, just like eating a sandwich really. They were cookie like but also the mixture of the two made me feel like having a peanut butter sandwich!! The kids enjoyed them alright and I made The Marine take the extras to work and he said they all enjoyed them there!!

 So then we had to made sugar cookies to frost and decorate. I had picked up cheap heart shaped cookie cutters and sprinkles at Target during our trip there one night and I was personally excited about making these cause I love frosted suagr cookies! I let Ladybug pick out the frosting and she picked the biggest tube of light pink frosting she could find in the store!! I mean if you're a kid why the heck not! Go big!! I made a simple cookie recipie that wasn't too sweet because the frosting was going to be plenty of sweet. Ladybug and Mister both helped cut out the shapes, more-so Ladybug cause Mister is still a little too young to fully help. I baked them and we frosted them the next day....that was a huge mess to say the least!!! I had accidently left the flour jar out on the table and while I was doing the first morning diaper change Ladybug took it upon herself to dump everything all over the kitchen table and floor...earning her the duty of "cleaning" (I say cleaning but really how well does an almsot 3yr old clean flour....answer is not well and that turned into a meltdown crying bigger mess than it needed to be so she went to her room while i cleaned ) Ok so after that mess was cleaned and her attitude impoved it was frosting time! That was a lot of fun!! I set Ladybug up with a paint brush and a bowl of the frosting, Mister sat in my lap and helped me as best he could with a repidly deteroating attitude.

 (see the N and P letters...those are special for nana and papa!)

Can you tell which ones I did and which ones Ladybug did? :-p

 So those are our crafts for this holiday. We did have a lot of fun all week doing different things. Tonight we are driving up to Nana and Papa's house spending the night and then The Marine and I are leaving in the morning tomorrow to head to Flordia without the children. This will be my first time ever away from Mister for any real length of time and overnights, I am nervous about leaving him because he is still so attached to me but I know he is in good spoiling hands. He needs to bond more with Nana and Papa, more like Ladybug is bonded to them but they have been watching her and doing overnight since she was nearly 11months old, they have spent more time together than Mister has so this will be good for everybody. Maybe I might feel like leaving them both more often and taking more time for me and The Marine? who knows right now!

 So Happy Valentine's Day everybody!!!

So I am a little nervous I have to admit

 I wrote about wanting to become a doula a few posts ago. I am still waiting on tax refund to come in so I can pay for the classes in full and get started right away with all the books and worksheets and everything I need, and taxes should be in next week or shortly after then. I am excited, but again I am also nervous! Why I am more nervous is because a potential client has fallen into my lap... I have agreed to meet with her and her mom (who will be her coach-so sweet!!) and see if this is going to be a good match. This I will do for free as it benefits me greatly- I need two births to complete doula class- as well as some other factors (and a pay it forward from finding my best friend a free doula when she really needed it, even if she didn't use the doula I found her I still found a doula willing to go in for free and short notice). So here I am about to begin, no shit, my doula journey...if this is a good match that is. I mean we still have to meet and talk and see what she exactly is looking for and from that point on I can cram and cram to prepare my doula self for the birth of her first child. I cannot believe this has fallen in my lap so easily and if we are a match I cannot believe how incrediably blessed I would be to tend to a woman during her first birth, first child, memories she will hold dearly for the rest of her life!! I get to be there helping, tending, caring, and nurturing her for the biggest life changing event of her life.... how lucky can  be for this?
 I have this doubt voice in the back of my head saying what if I fail her and ruin her birth? But I KNOW I cannot do that...I will not let myself do that. I will prepare for the birth, I will be ready to be the doula she wants, I will make her birth the best I possible can....so stop talking doubt voice...totally not welcome!!

 so first step is meeting mom, hopefully soon, next step is cramming for birth if we are a match :-) boy am I excited!!!

Is it Spring Yet?!

 I really am not much to complain about winters down south. I grew up in Ohio, in a snow belt actually so I know what a winter is like. Having snow on the ground for like 6 months out of a year and beyond cold temps, those things I do not care for. I am however begging for sping to finally come please, not because i am tired of winter or the cold or even the weird number of snow storms the south has had (I actually enjoy snow in small amounts) I really want spring so that we can all get healthy again!! This has been one long hard winter of never ending illness for my family, myself included. let's review the list of sickness.
 Starting around Thanksgiving we all got stuffy/snotty noses. This turned into a full blown illness for me the week after Thanksgiving and a week long of drinking nyquil straight from the bottle every night just to survive. The Marine caught this but a slightly less deathly feeling version. The kids stayed out of that nasty one but developed coughs and boogery noses which to this day linger. Sometime after that the kids had fevers and started feeling unlike themselves...more tired and started napping for like 3-4 hours at a time!! I enjoyed that little bit, I sure do like naps! They bounced back from that quickly, but then were struck down with some random 24 hour vomiting mess which made my house so gross. They both for a little over a day were just throwing up just about everything that went down and it was awful. I lined my house with blankets, towels, and anything I could to catch the mess so that I didn't have to scrub carpets and couches. Laundry went non-stop during that time. After that got done we had a family function where another family member's girlfriend brought her sick kids withher (ya thanks for that...totally awesome) so mine caught that bug and had high fevers for a few days. After Christmas was over we still had never ending boogers and coughs which progressed into horrid coughs and throwing up fits from coughing so bad. I have this never ending sinus infection and am seeing an ENT next week sometimes about it, plus my tounsils hate me...want those out please!

 ok ok so you get the point...it has been one sickly winter and I want some sunshine and outside time so we can be healthy again!!! I think it's the sunlight that makes you more healthy? I don't know but we want out door play time again!!! The kids got balance bikes for christmas and ladybug loves riding hers, Mister needs more pratice but he will get it soon enough! We wanna play outside, we want the sickies to go away!!!

 BRING ON THE SUN!!!!!!!!!

Birth Doula

 I hope to be able to add to my name a new title soon. Birth Doula/Breastfeeding Counselor. Sounds pretty good right? I think so and I am very happy to start this journey in my life, to be able to do something I love and can put my full heart into doing. I choose to start online classes through Childbirth International with some reccommendations from friends and a local doula here. I had been looking into doula classes for about a year now and this one seems to offer the best of everything, it isn't too short so I know I will be very well prepared once I am done with school not only for the doula part of the job but for everything else that has to come along with being a doula. As you can read on the site I can be done with this course work in about a year but I have 3 years to be done. I hope to not rush myself through it but take it all in and learn everything I can btu still be done in a good amount of time so that I can be a real life doula! I will also be starting the breastfeeding counselor class at the same time through the same company and this is something to expand by business plan in mind and something i really know I will be good at. As you may know by now I am a very big pro-breastfeeder. I believe it is so vitally important and I want to help women oout there be able to nurse their children. This course work takes about 10-14 months to complete but again I have a full 3 years to complete everything with this company which is great I mean I have these two kids running around!
 As excited as I am to begin this new path in my life I am also just as nervous to start this. Myself is my own worst emeny and my self confidence tends to always hinder me in completing something like this. It's why I never went through with a lot of things in life; college, nursing school, joining the Marines... My confidence has always lacked and in the back of my head I hear something saying I will just fail at it so why bother starting and wasting time and money. I don't know why but that is how it is. This is will be different, I have support from my amazing husband who won't let me fail. He is such am amazing supportive man!
 So here i am just waiting for taxes to come back and that day I am signing up and paying for in full! Birth Doula and Breastfeeding Counselor here I come!!!!!!!!!

My Massive Diaper Review

 I have recently began obsessing with cloth diapers again and bought a few new things that I have been wanting to try out. I feel like writing a review on these new diapers just simply because maybe I can help somebody else out?  I need to say first this is going to be a long blog. I took pictures of every diaper and I am sorry if it takes forever to load. I just want everybody to get the idea of these diapers. I am also not being paid for reviews nor did i get any of these for free or discounted. I wanted to sit and write reviews fo anybody who might be looking. So enjoy!
 So the new diapers I have include wool, fitted, prefolds, rwo new pockets, and an all-in-two system. Let me start with...wool!

Sustainablebabyish Knit Wool Cover

 I guess I have been wanting a wool cover for some time now, like before Ladybug had even potty trained. The price had always put me off and I felt like maybe I wouldn't be able to do it right because you have to lanolize wool first before you can even use it or else it's pretty much useless as a cover! I was always afraid of it I would say, but Mister's super soaking weenkie made me seriously start thinking about it more. I don't like changing his bedsheets every morning and having him stink my pee because he wets at night a lot. Our old system was a flip stay-dry insert doubled with a gDiaper insert and a bummies cover, it doesn't cut it for him. When I saw that the company was having a 'seconds' sale and the wool was half off I just had to jump on it. I bought the carbon color and a bar of sheepish grins wool wash bar in a yummy smell. I couldnt wait for them to arrive!!

 They did within the week of ordering them and I went right to work on lanolizing them and letting them air dry, I was a bit upset that they took forever to dry so we couldn't use it that night...but the next night we used our new wool!!

 Uber cute right? The fit is a lot different than what we are used to, like the rise is supposed to be higher on these to cover everything and the leg holes are a little longer again to be able tocover everything inside there. I really like them, I couldn't believe how very soft they are!! We got a medium size for Mister, he is 16months old and about 22-23lbs and average height for his age. We probably could size up to alarge with wool because from what I read they can be a larger size and still work just great. At some point I think I am going to get a large.
 So did it work overnight?? Well the first night, not exactly sadly. It was a combo of two problems, one I didn't lanolize it right (like I 'washed' the wool and rinsed out everything...opps!) and then we used the same insert combo we had been using so those two things together he felt damp the next morning. Not anywhere near what he normally feels like all wet and gross but still damp... so i re-did the wool asap so it would dry and i thought about trying a new combo inside. The second night I had him in a flip stay-dry inside a bumGenius bamboo fitted, and that worked amazing!! He was as dry as could be when he woke up, and even slept in a little!! The third night he was in a snapless fitted with a flip stay-dry doubler, and zero wetness again...ZERO!! so here are good and bad on the SBish wool cover for me:
 Bad: the price can put a lot of people off who are looking to diaper on a budget
 Good: the softness
 Bad: You have to lanolize the wool first and make sure you do it right
 Good: Once you have prepped the wool it only needs washed if it gets poopy, or about every three weeks! Seriously you read that right... I don't have to wash this but once a month!! awesome!!
  In closing on Sbish wool covers...very much so worth the investment. If you need a bullet proof nighttime cover this is what you want to get. My little Mister is a soaker at night, this cover is heaven sent.

  SUSTAINABLEBABYISH SNAPLESS MULTI-FITTED

 Ok this goes in part with my review of the SBish wool cover above. I felt the need to buy two of these to go on Mister overnight after reading more and more about the cover, everything I had read said when paired with this fitted night times become dry-times! I was able to buy these locally, at my favorite store (seriously cannot stop singing the praises of this store and owner). My first impression was how incrediablly soft these felt! Like holy soft batman!! I  wish my undies felt like this!!  I will tell you no joke, last night when I put Mister in this diaper he started giggling and wiggling his butt around in the diaper...he must have thought it felt as good as I thought it did! If that isn't a great review from a 16month old babe who doesn't talk I don't know what is!! So this diaper comes with two insert that go inside it, one a smaller one and the other longer. I used both on him, felt he needed it. I also used a flip stay dry insert too, for extra in case we needed it, like I said my Mister is a super soaking little man! I also really love how this is a snapless fitted... it means you can get the perfect fit for your baby every time you put it on. you can pin it like it's pictures and how your grandma used diapers or you can use a snappi which is what I do. if you are using this fitted on a smaller baby simply fold down the front part to get the perfect fit for whatever size baby. I played with it a while and you seriously can get this things small and cute or large for whatever baby! The elastic is great, seems firm and I think will hold up very well over time.

                                                   (the inside with the two doublers)

(you can easily fold over the front to fit a smaller baby)

(this is the fit on my Mister, I use a snappi because it's easier)

 So how did it do overnight?! THE BEST!!! I am serious when I say that the outside of the diaper was barely even damp, which means those liners and the flip insert inside soaked up everything overnight!! I couldn't believe it when I took it off of him!! amazing!!  How did I ever survuve nighttime diapering without this diaper and the wool cover?! I ask myself... what the heck?!

(pretty good fitting diaper on my Mister's booty!)

 I wish I hadn'y gone so long without these diapers. I only have two and I think maybe another one should be in order. Amazing for the heavy overnight soaker, solves the changing sheets every morning problem!! The softness of the diaper makes me slightly jealous that my undies don't feel so soft! Mister loves the feel!  Did I mention that these diapers get more absorbant with a few washes under their belt...so if they were insanely absorbant after just one wash...just think what is to come?!

 BOTTOMBUMPERS One Size Diaper

 Ok this diaper seems crazy when you first see it. I was drawn to it because of the 'pumpkin' color when i saw it in the store. Then the second thing is the lining inside the diaper the bamboo velor...OOO-lala nice! Then I started playing with and I was in all honesty confused, how on earth is thing a one size I though. It is unlike any other one size diaper I have seen...where are the size-able snaps?! I had to ask the store owner (and I felt badly to interrupt her talking to a few ladies thinking about cloth right then) but I had to know (and my kids were being impatient). She didn't know either!! So I YouTubed the diaper!! Once I understood how the sizing worked i though how smart!!! It does make for a sleek looking diaper and a snazzy one too. I decided to buy it! Let me show you some pictures of this diaper (and mind the red-ish stain to the front of the diaper...we had spaghetti one night and I am still sunning out the stain ...with little to no sun)

 this is the tag and it goes on the butt of the diaper. I like that it's USA made, I love anything made from home!

 The Marine isn't that fond of the orange but I am I think it's a striking color!

The inside of the diaper (honestly it's listed on sites as an all in one but i think it's an all in two since it snaps in)

 Here is the doubler ...it's really two sewn together so you don't lose one I guess! It's nice!

Here is the inside snaps. The top white one is where the liner snaps into and then the green snaps into either blue, orange, or yellow depends on the size you need. It's pretty cool to have it on the inside it makes this diaper looks sleek!

 here it is snapped to the smallest setting for like a newborn I would say. Now I have to say you need to be sure to fold down the hang over or else the diaper has this funky look at the butt.

Here it is on the largest setting. In between it can be the newborn setting, the small, then small/medium, medium, and finally the largest.

(pretty sleek looking diaper huh?!)

 Ok so Mister is on the small setting and he has plenty of room to grow in this diaper, which leads me to say that while I don't have a newborn to try it out on I would say this diaper is probably better for the taller baby. That is a great thing, I see time and time again people complaining that the rise of the diaper is too small for their tall child...I would say get some bottombumpers for those kids! Mister has worn this diaper a number of times and every time I have just loved the way it looks on him, just so very trim and sleek, it's an eye catching diaper in my opinion! I really do like this one, I would buy more (but we honestly don't need any more!!).

(I really like the way this diaper fits, and absorbs!!)

 Time for the good and bad:
 Good: the snap in liner/soaker absorbs a lot because it's made from the bamboo
 Good: The velor topping makes this so soft against the butt, it's almost dreamy!
 Good: the rise is large and would fit that tall child
 Bad: while i have not tested it on a smaller child I would say fitting a newborn probably would be bulky
 Good: the liner can fold and double over in the fron making it great for tummy sleepers and little boys!
 Good: the snap in line makes it a fast drying diaper (I hang dry my fluff so thats a big plus)
 Bad: I often have to tumble the liner with some dryer balls to soften it back up as line drying makes it crunchy
 Bad: If you don't fold the overhang in the back after sizing the diaper it makes the butt look very weird
 Bad: The Marine likes it and all but side snaps takes a little time to get used to
  I would honestly buy more of these diapers if we needed to. I like the rise, I like the look, I like the feel. Good job Bottom Bumpers!!

Beebers Butts Pocket Diaper

  No here is a work at home mom making diapers. I have been obsessed with this print for some time now, it's called Ogga Booga. I don't know what it is exactly but I am in love and I wish for everything Ooga Booga printed! Happy Heinys complany had a very limited edition one size with this print and I once had the chance to buy one but it slipped away so after that I hunted and found this one. The reviews on her etsy shop were great and the price of the diaper was awesome! Now this is a size diaper, and so I bought Mister a medium and it gits his cute tushy great and some room to grow as well. The hook and loop clousure isn't my all time favorite, they tend to wear out over time and create diaper chains (boo!!) and sometimes it can be too hard and scratch babe's tummy but this diaper's hoop and look is very soft and seems like it is made for the long haul. This came with it's on insert which is uncommom for many diapers you buy of etsy so that was nice, and it's good and absorbant! All in all this is a great diaper and very worth the price. You should check out this etsy shop for more cute diapers!! I have to give good props for this quality diaper!!

Happy Heinys Skull Print One Size Pocket

did I metion the glow in the dark part?!?!

  Ok I have had a HH's cow print diaper before and wasn't ever that impressed with it. The diaper always seemed to sag in the back and the velcro tabs never ever stayed closed in the wash and that always made me dislike the diaper. BUT they did a redesign on their diapers recently and I had been hearing good remarks about it, so like the major cloth diaper addict I am when I saw this skull print (and then found out it glows in the dark) I was like sweet and so was the Marine!! The skulls you can see in the light are not the ones that glow but rather inprinted in the grey part are different glow skulls and it is pretty cool! Now granted we have only 'charged' the glow up twice and put Mister in a dark room to see but it was really cool!! 

 Ok so this diaper is one size and sizes in the front like most one size diapers. The snaps seem to be sturdy compared to the old design, and this time I skipped the hook/loop I like snaps on my diapers. Mister is on the middle setting and it fits him great!! As you can see by the picture above there is zero butt sagging going on there. The trim-ness of this diaper is top of the line!! The inside pocket opening is wide enough even for The Marine to be able to stuff this diaper!! The  custom milled fleece  inside the diaper is very much so top of the line and very soft! It is a great diaper!! I give them two thumbs and maybe even a toe up for the rededign of their diaper!! They really did listen to their clients and fixed the issues!!

 I give this diaper two thumbs up!!! If you are loking for a great, soft, trim, and leakproof every day diaper look into this brand!! I mean they have a good rep for a reason!!

BabyKicks Hemp-Fleece PreFolds

(the toddler sized red trim prefold on mister)

 OK and finally my last little review is this wonderful prefold diaper. I swear prefolds get a bad rep and are totally misunderstood even to most cloth diapering mommas! They are cheap, easy, absorbant, and are so cute on! They can be stuffed, folded, pinned/snappi'ed, and just layed in covers...I mean prefolds can do all the work! After the baby gets done using diapers they make for great cleaning!!

 Anyway this is a hemp/fleece diaper...but not the fleece like a fleece cover (cause that wouldn't absorb now would it?!) They are nice and soft against your sweet baby's butt, and if you can't tell by now I am all about softness being on my Mister's behind!! These tend to be working their best after a few washes, but I get impatient and only washed them twice before I tried them out for overnight. Now as i have stated many times before Mister is a super soaking overnight babe, I mean that, so when i tried this out the first night I did add a gDiaper to double just in case. As it turns out I didn't need the doubler at all. When Mister woke up this had held in so much pee in the first folds up at his weenkie area that the gDiaper doubler barely got wet and the back of the prefold was slightly damp! I mean to me this is super impressive!! If it wasn;t so nasty and bad parenting I am sure I could just leave him in this single prefold all day without worry that it would leak, in fact I might go out on a limb and say I wouldn't even use a cover that is how absorbant this prefold is!!



  (I do and always have loved a cute prefolded booty!)

 I do have this one paired overnight with our wool cover (which still impresses me and I have to tell you any reader I have....buy a good wool cover!!!). This is for sure the best absorbant pre-fold I have come across in my years of diapering! If you are a mommy on a budget looking for something that will really hold up well even on your fire hydrant baby....get some of these prefolds! Trust me folding it is very easy, just YouTube it! Snappi's are super easy to use. This is a great, top of the line prefold!

 So that was my great big diaper review of the diapers I have purchased recently! I really do take time into researching what diaper I am about to buy and ask other mamma's what they think. As you may have been able to see a lot of my links are linked to Mami's and Papi's webpage where these can be purchased. I like to buy from our local super awesome store (A Nurturing Moment) because it supports here locally and supports Mami who sells her things in the store...so it is win win for them and makes me feel pretty good for being able to support them both at the same time. Mami's and Papi's  is an amazing mom and pa store with the best customer service out there, no joke they have this amazing facebook page and it is like a community. Ask questions and you will get answers from mami, papa, or prima and all the other "sisters" as they call each other.

 I hope my review helped you out some, maybe convinced you to buy a new diaper as a solution to your nighttime troubles, everyday troubles, or just for the cute factor, or as my important softness on the booty! thanks for reading!!