Traveling with Cloth

This past weekend, Jack and I headed to Brookhaven for a night. Usually when we are gone from our house overnight, Jack wears disposables. We've done that since he was a newborn. 

 But this time I felt kind of adventurous and decided to just use his cloth diapers. Overall, it was not a bad experience. I had his plastic bin that holds his diapers from daycare (because we left right from school). I cleaned out his diapers at my parents and used the bin to hold his dirty diapers. Once the diapers were in the bin, no one complained about the smell (one of my worries!). 

 I will definitely do it again. It saved us a few dollars and was really not that hard. But I will change one thing next time--flushable liners! We have some liners that we were given when Jack was born. We have used them a few time, but we have a sprayer so we've never used them on a full time basis.  Plus, they aren't super cheap, so I've never wanted to get too dependent on them.

But diapers.com has these liners at a good price (plus 10% off and 4% cash back through ebates).  I think I am going to order some and then travel using cloth more.  We are headed to Jackson this weekend for Bech's high school reunion...might be a good time to try this!

Any readers out there do cloth?  Do you travel with them?

I'm linking up to Callie for "Mommy Moments."

Weekend Happenings

Please excuse the awful, blurry iphone photos.  It was a busy weekend!

Every Friday at daycare, the babies have worn their team gear.  We had an Auburn cheerleader, two LSU cheerleaders, and a little Ole Miss player this past week.  Jack loves his Rebels!

Friday, right after school, Jack and I jumped in the car and headed to Brookhaven for the weekend.

As soon as we got home, KK gave Jack his first Janie's cookie.  Janie's is this great little bakery in Brookhaven, and their cookies are SO good.  Jack agreed.

As a side note, Jack looks like a total redneck in this picture.  I apologize.  I do not normally let my child go around in sleeveless outfits (unless they are bubbles, smocked, or monogrammed).  This is Jack's extra outfit at daycare.

Also, I'm pretty sure he has sucker rubbed into his hair.  That's what I do to get a 15 month old happy on the car ride home.  Give him suckers, that is, not rub it in his hair.  You can guess who did that!

 Sunday was a great relaxing day.  We started off with a walk downtown so that Jack could have another Janie's first--a doughnut!  He loved this as well.  

Jack took great naps and got lots of cuddle time in with his grandparents and his aunts and uncle.  I think everyone was glad to see him.

After some outside playtime and grilled hamburgers, Jack and I headed back to Baton Rouge Saturday night.

Bech got lots of pottery time while we were gone, but he was glad to see us!

Today was slightly dramatic.  Tonight while making homemade chicken stock, Bech sliced the tip of his finger.  We hurried to an urgent care center near our house and they were able to glue it back together (cheaper, easier, and less painful than stitches).  

The good news is that, while waiting at the pharmacy for his painkiller prescription, I got my highest Temple Run score ever.  Are you impressed?  Or embarrassed for me?  

I am both.

But mostly impressed with myself!  Ha!

Hopefully this week will be a lot less busy and dramatic.  But next weekend we head to Jackson for Bech's 10 year high school reunion!

Midweek Confessions

Midweek Confession time!

* Well, Jack was sick yesterday so I was home with him.  I could have gotten a lot done, but instead I watched a "Murder, She Wrote" episode and took a nap (during his morning nap).  Then we went to the library (don't worry, he wasn't really that sick, but he still had to stay home for 24 hours) and checked out fun Fall books!

*I know I was sooo ready to be back down South, but I am really missing Vermont right now.  It's in the 80's in Baton Rouge right now.  In Vermont, it's starting to be sweater and boots weather, the leaves are starting to change, and the apples are ready for picking (not to mention fresh apple cider). 

But I know that once winter rolls around, I will be quite happy to be in the South.  No down coats, no snow boots, no freezing on the way to class!

* I am going home this weekend (to see my brother) and I am going to have a snowcone from Ms. Gussies.  Um, excited would be an understatement.  I love Brookhaven snow cones.

* I have been breaking Southern clothes rules right and left.  I know, it's awful.  But it's been so darn hot here and Jack looks so cute in his seersucker.  Plus, I asked a few people here what they thought and they said you can stretch the rules here.

* While lesson planning during my off periods on Tuesday, I definitely listened to a Christmas Pandora station.  What can I say?  I'm ready for the holiday season!

That's all for this week!

5th Anniversary

Yesterday, Bech and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary (and Thursday was 8 years since our first date!).  Bech's parents came down to Baton Rouge and babysat Jack and let us use their New Orleans apartment for the weekend!

We had a great time, but I missed Baby Jack.  Before this, I had only been away from him one night--and it was while we were moving, so I was too exhausted to miss him!  But I have now successfully spent two nights away from him.  I don't want to do it often (I missed him too much!), but I was proud of myself.

In typical Marley fashion, I took no pictures of Bech and me this weekend.  I did, however, take pictures of all of the yummy food we ate!

We got to New Orleans about 7:30 Friday night.  We walked down to Magazine Street (only a few blocks from Bech's parent's place) for dinner.  We ended up eating at The Rum House, a Caribbean taqueria.  SO good!  We were exhausted, though, and had to wait for about 45 minutes, so it ended up being the fastest meal we had eaten in a while.

Saturday morning, we attempted to sleep in.  Which, of course, means that we didn't.  Why is that always the case? 

We headed to the French Quarter in the morning.  The St. Charles street car from where we were to Canal Street is being worked on, so we took the bus.  It was fine, but I was a little bummed to not ride the street car.  But I know there will be many more opportunities!

No New Orleans weekend is complete without Cafe du Monde...yum!  

After some beignets and coffee, we wandered around, checking out the markets and stores.  I found an Elvis nutcracker in a Christmas shop there...I think my dad needs this!

I fell in love with this amazing shop, The Spice and Tea Exchange.  We didn't buy anything this time, but I definitely want to visit it again.

We headed back to the apartment (and took naps--we are SO wild sans Jack!).  Late afternoon we headed out to Magazine Street and checked out the shops.  We were looking for a happy for Jack, but didn't find anything we loved.

We ate dinner at Joey K's.  Nothing fancy, but sooo good.  I had fried soft shell crab.  It was my first time, and I LOVED it!  I think I have a new favorite dish.

We got dessert at Sucre.  It was the cutest shop and everything looked yummy.  I got a cupcake and Bech tried their chocolate.

We had a great weekend, but I was happy to spend time with my little man today.  He got cuter over the weekend...how is that possible?

As we ate our meal last night, I was thinking about some of our favorite David Wilcox lyrics:

"Happy Anniversary, Darling.

We go back a long, long time.

I think about our lives together,

I'm so grateful you are here in mine.

And I know you'll keep on changing,

You're moving in this dance with me.

I love the way we embrace the future

And keep the past a memory."

And, of course, I tell Bech every anniversary what Davy and Sheldon said:

"If it's half as good as the half before, here's Hail to the rest of the road!"

Happy Anniversary, Bech.  Here's to many more years even more wonderful than the first five!

I'm still alive...

I know, I have not blogged in forever.  We have been crazy lately!

Here's what we've been up to:

* I took the first part of my comps for my masters (and the hardest of the three tests!).  This test is a sight translation--two Greek passages (poetry and prose) and two Latin passages (same).  I had to pass this one in its entirety (not like a 70% or anything like that) in order to take the other two.  I passed half--the prose section.  I was not surprised, but still sad.  I completely bombed the Greek poetry section.  Literally, Homer was probably rolling in his grave.  I was bummed, but then I ate the Ben and Jerry's ice cream that I had on hand, and life was good again.  

I can't take the exam again until January, so I am working on my translation in the mean time (and studying for the other two!).

* Jack is currently the daycare biter.  Ugh.  I don't know what to do about it!  He bit three people on Monday and one child today.  He gets mad because he wants a toy they have, and he reaches over and bites.  Total depravity, anyone?

Seriously, though, I have no idea how to deal with this.  They put him in "the thinking chair," but I'm not sure how much he understands.  If he did it at home (which he doesn't do), I would give his hand a pinch.  But they don't do physical punishment there (which I totally understand).  Any tips?  Anyone had the biter before?

* Bech and my 5 year anniversary is this Saturday.  We are going to New Orleans (to stay in Bech's parents condo), and Bech's parents are watching Jack.  I am really sad about leaving Jack.  I have only been away from him one night, and that was while we were moving (so I was too tired to even notice!).  

I am excited, though, about exploring New Orleans with Bech and not having to worry about naptime or enough snacks.  It will be fun to be kid free for a little bit!

*  Teaching is good, still, but hard!  Progress reports were this week, so I've had lots of not so fun emails with parents.  It is hard to tell parents that their child isn't doing so hot in my class.  The parents have, for the most part, been so great in their responses, and I am thankful for that!

I think that's all I have for tonight.  There is a Sophocles chorus that is needing my attention!

Life Lately...

I know, I know, I have totally been MIA in blog world lately.

So here's what we have been up to lately, complete with iphone pictures (oh, no! I've become one of those people who doesn't take real pictures anymore!)

Jack has been being his completely adorable, absolutely insane self.  Here is he stuffing bananas in his mouth.

And prepping for Hurricane Isaac by playing and posing for the camera.

We didn't want to lose everything in our freezer if we ended up losing power during the storm, so we cooked up some yummy shrimp taco's for dinner!

A little flashback my mom sent me...um, who is that Fatty McFatterson?

Bathtime...redneck style

Jack loved sitting in the bucket--he thought he was so cool!

My mom and sister made my older sister's boyfriend a candy bouquet.  

Bech felt left out, so they made one for him, too!

My sweet college friend, Nancy Page, drove through Baton Rouge the other night with her parents.  We were able to have dinner with them--I think Jack is a fan of Nancy Page!

Bech put Jack's sippy cup on the car while buckling him up the other night.  He then drove off and a minute later we heard the cup fall off.  It's Jack's favorite cup, so a rescue mission was needed!  Don't worry--the Tommy Tippee is safe!

Jack's daily report from daycare today.  I love that he is both "Happy" and "Overly Destructive."  Oh, my little Destructo!

This past weekend, we spent some time in Brookhaven with my parents.  "Doc" stripped Jack and got out the hose--Jack was in heaven!