My little BIG boy

So much for maintaining my blog...whoops. So the big news around here is that our little small fry has started to walk! By no means is he running marathons or anything but as of last Monday night he had started to take his first steps. They were small timid steps and only 2 to start with but they did happen. He is now able to do 6 or 7 steps unasissted. His balance has improved remarkably in the last week. All of this thrills us of course, but even better then watching him walk is the look on his face. He knows that he has successfully accomplished this task, he looks so proud when he smiles at you. I know every parent defines infant to toddler differently, for me walking is it. He is now officially a toddler, thank goodness a toddler who has yet to learn how to say "NO".

Unfortunately with this new skill has come his first bleeding nose. The truth is it was more of a two drops of blood and done nosebleed, but still Im sure it hurt. Having a little adventurer for a child I anticipate there will be many more injuries to come.

Although easy to over look compared to walking, but still important, the little one has also learnt how to descend stairs in a backwards crawl. Again not that exciting but still an accomplishment for him and one we are just as proud of!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's New Year's day already! Yikes how the year has flown. This year my new year's resolution is to eat healthier and to actually try to regularly update this blog. I think the first resolution is pretty self explanatory, the second however I will try to explain. My hopes is that one day years from now Everett will be able to look back on this blog and see a little of what our lives were like with him at the beginning. It will be like a little journal for him, but one the whole world can see:) That way everyone who doesn't get to see us everyday can feel like apart of our daily lives too!

So Everett's first Birthday has come and went. I am still finding it hard to believe he is actually a year old, a toddler! Although he is still not quite walking he will be any day. He just got his first shoes, right after I put them on for the first time he stood for a minute and tried to take a step! He loves being to eat independently and would prefer to feed himself most times, but is also happy to let his Grandpa help.

He really enjoyed Christmas a lot more this year but still found it very overwhelming. His favorite present is the car we bought for him. If we wont push him around in it, he gets out a pushes it himself! We have not really started playing with many Christmas or Birthday presents so Im sure he will have a new favorite soon!

Happy New Year to all and we hope 2010 is as wonderful as 2009 was!

Diapers and Vacations....

So we once again went on a family vacation, this time to Vancouver to see U2 and down to Seattle!!!!! We were gone for 6 nights and back to work tomorrow :(

Once again we decided to cloth diaper Everett this vacation. Instead of using Gdiaper inserts in our Gro Baby diapers we were able to use the new Biosoakers created for Gro Baby diapers. As I previously posted we had limited success with the gdiaper inserts so I was a little unsure how successful we would be with the Biosoakers.

A quick description of the gdiapers they are a large rectangular soaker pad. They are ment to fit inside the snap in liner of gdiapers. Honestly the look like a big maxipad. The Biosoakers look a little more like a disposable diaper due to the leg gussets. They also have two adhesive areas on the "plastic back" to stick to the Grobaby mesh liner.

The first major comparison is size. The Gdiaper inserts are a lot bigger then the Biosoakers. Although they do fit you must stretch the shell over the gdiaper insert and tuck the edges in a little. The Biososakers are a perfect fit. I was a little hesitant because they do not cover the entire shell front to back, however as long as the the biosoaker is pulled all the way forward it seems to provide great coverage. The Gdiaper inserts seem to be constructed so you can use either side towards the baby, the biosoakers have a distinct front and back. The back of the Biosoakers is made of corn polymer plastic like stuff. Both Dylan and I really enjoy this feature as it kept any stink from soaking into the shell, which unfortunately the gdiaper inserts do not do.

Another great feature of the biosoaker is the leg gussets. The gussets allow all the" goods" to remain on the biosoaker and does not rely exclusively on the shell to contain the mess. Unfortunately this is something that the gdiaper is lacking.

With the Biosoakers they are prevented from moving around and bunching by using the adhesive to attach to the shell. The adhesive works great...maybe a little to great... it doesn't want to come off, specifically from the front of the diaper. Even if you wait the suggested couple minutes its still super sticky. Daddy does not like this!!! Honestly we were using them continuously for 6 days...the stickiness would build up and then peel off.

The Gdiaper inserts just didn't shift. They couldn't, they had no room. They really did take up the whole shell!!!

I thought I had a tough time finding gdiaper inserts from Montana to Minnesota, it was impossible finding Biosoakers. Fortunately I had packed enough. We went through a whole box coming home with only 6 extras. Had we needed to buy more I may have been whooped, and travelling with 2 boxes was out of the questions. I already felt like I was bringing everything but the kitchen sink. I did try to pick some up at Whole Foods in Seattle however was very unsuccessful. The limited suppliers is to be expected as they are brand new on the market!! Hopefully as people hear about them they will become more common and easier to purchase on vacation. The gdiapers on the other hand seem much more popular on the west coast and I could find them everywhere!!

The only other problem I had with the Biosoakers is I think I got a faulty one!!! We were suppose to meet friends for lunch. Everett was in his diaper less the a hour when I took him out of the car seat and he was soaked!!!!! I thought his sippy cup had leaked. But nope it was the diaper. He was drenched it was horrible. I swear though somehow that one soaker must of been faulty. We were able to use our biosoakers over night without a leak but 1 hour and somehow he ended up soaked. Unfortunately we never tried the gdiapers over night...to many day time leaks to trust it to night time use.

A little cost comparison....using both American and Canadian pricing

Gdiapers: Starter kit (2 pants and 10 inserts) $26.99/$29.99

32 insert refills (size med/large)$14.99/$19.99=$0.47/$0.62 per insert

Grobaby: Starter kit (1 shell and 50 inserts) $34.95/ Hasn't arrived yet :(

50 insert pack (Size 1 or 2) $19.99/$25.25 = $0.40/$0.50 per insert

...To me this one is a no brainer.

Overall I really liked using the biosoakers. I doubt I will use them regularly at home, but I don't think they're ment to be. I will definitely use them again on vacation. I was so happy that this trip did not end with us going to buy a pack of disposables like last time. I do believe the biosoakers would of held up even if Everett did get sick, where the gdiapers just couldn't do it. I would however call the people at the local Whole Foods and ensure they had the biosoakers in stock a couple weeks before my vacation.!!

I just wanted to finish by saying the Biosoakers are obviously created to be used with Gro Baby. The Gdiaper inserts are ment to be used with gdiaper little pants, and they may work fantastically with them...just not with Gro Baby diapers.

HOME

We finally made it home, safe and sound after our wonderful adventures. Everett handled the final legs of our adventure like the champion that he is. We were shocked to find the most expensive hotel room out entire journey was in SASKATOON?!?!? We made it home around 2 o'clock today. Fortunately Darko is doing good, seems to have missed us, however appears to of been well taken care. Everett is down for the night, unfortunately he did cry for 10 minutes at bed time, I guess he misses sharing the bed with Mommy and Daddy :)

Winnipeg Part 2

The weather was rainy yesterday so it limited our plans, resulting in both the Zoo and the Forks being taken off our schedule. We ended up going to Polo park and just doing some more exploring. Unfortunately Everett has a little stomach bug :( After changing 5 poopy diapers in an hour we agreed and broke down and bought a package of disposables. It killed me to do it, however all his gro baby shells were getting yucky and need a good wash. Dylan was also feeling yucky yesterday with a migraine. However after some Tylenol 1's and a little sleep he is as good as new. Today we start our journey back home.

Winnipeg(its been a long time)

Well we made it back to Canada, and have arrived in Winnipeg. Its been a long time and it looks like things have changed a bit. The arena is no more, they have a really nice looking movie theatre now and it looks like the Charleswood golf course is now a highway. But the more impressive difference I noticed was that the Zellers that was by our old house is now a Shoppers Drug Mart. And I (Aly) noticed that Winnipeg has sqeegee kids ugh...It was nice to introduce Everett to some of his extended family. Hopefully we will have the chance to introduce him to more before the trip is done.

Fargo!

Well today we left Minneapolis, but before we left we made sure to visit Little Canada, where all the street signs have little maple leafs on them :) We also went to the outlet mall. Now Dylan and I have been to many Premium Outlets in our travels, but let me say this was by far the quietest outlet mall we have ever seen!! Dylan would like to say the longest....but I don't know about that, but we both agree having a major highway run through the mall probably isn't the smartest idea. We made it to Fargo, Dylan had previously been here and can remember it well.

Everett is doing SUPERFANTASTIC, adjusting to the Gerber baby food :) and is currently wrestling his new stuffed Yoda in the crib. I'm sure we can figure out who bought that for him. It was cute listening to Everett sit in his car seat talking to Yoda for a good 30 minutes this afternoon. Tomorrow should bring us to Winnipeg.