My 14 month Old's Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I'm a 14 month old toddler and I am writing to you because my Mommy is giving out my "Christmas list" (and I use that term loosely) to everyone.  But ya' see, what she has on that list, I have absolutely no interest in what. so. ever.  I don't even know where she came up with that stuff!?  Leap Frog magnets for the fridge, more clothes--she didn't even bother asking what my style is!  So let me tell you what I REALLY want for Christmas.

My list is below, and in no particular order.  Whatever is easiest to fit on the sleigh and that the reindeer won't bother with.  Have a very Merry Christmas!

--14 month old toddler

My Christmas Wish List

1. Remote Controls
     These are the highlight of my night!  I play with them usually before I got to bed, and then in the morning when mommy and I come downstairs, I see her searching for them for hours.  I love that game!  I need more to hide and slobber on.

2.One of these things
   No clue what it is or what it does, but they all make a lot of noise, and mommy and daddy are always looking at them. Any of these three models will do.  I'm not picky.

3.  Keys!
  I do like the taste of a good house key, but man those little black squares with the buttons on them are the bomb!!!!  But I would like my own set of keys, and not the plastic ones, the metal ones.  I am not an idiot, I can taste the difference!

4. Items in this bin
  Mommy is always yelling, I mean telling Daddy to "recycle"....so I would like one of everything that is in this bin from; milk jugs, tin cans, cardboard boxes of any kid will do, junk mail, and especially egg crates!

5.  SHOES!
   I would like one in every color, and the bigger the better.  These things are great to hid small toys that can only be felt once mommy or daddy's feet are jammed in there.  I would especially like more of mommy's "nasty hospital shoes".  She puts them on the porch so I can't touch them, but man they are my favorite!

6.  Cords
 I wold like all of these cords, and the power strip with the orange on/off button.  I would like any and all cords in general, but to be quite specific I would like these cords that are located in Daddy's office under the desk.

7. Night Light
 I have one in my room, and they are many through out the house.  I really like the tops that go on them.  It's not shown in the picture because I took it off the other day and Mommy has yet to replace it for me to remove again.  But you know what it looks like right?

8. Dog Food
  Every time I crawl to my dogs Bella & Chloe's bowls someone says "No Sir!" and pulls me away.  If they don't want me to eat it or play in the water, then why is it on the floor where I play?  Geez!

9. Everything in these cabinets
  I would like one of every pot and pan and poisonous chemical that is in the cabinets.  There are these strange contraptions on the cabinets that won't let me in completely, but I will tell you the one by the coffee pot I have broken into a few times, so you can see for yourself all the wonderful electrical glory of toasters and blenders that are in there!

Cloth Diapers In Modern Times

Before Holden was born I decided I wanted to do cloth diapers.  Never had an expercience with them, never used them, so I was kind of scared.  But I knew how $$$ disposable diapers can be, and we just don't a money tree growing in our back yard, so I wanted to contribute and save.  I luckily met a lady on a cloth diaper swap group who was de-stashing from her collection.  So for $50 I got 20 diapers and inserts.  Jackpot!  If you don't know, a cloth diaper ranges from $15-$20 per diaper.  So to get started can be a bit pricey, but buying used and being frugal helps!

I have had Holden in cloth diapers since he was about 6 months.  I waited until he started solids...I honestly didn't want newborn breast milk baby poop cloth diapers.  No thanks!  Having solid food baby poop cloth diapers was enough thank you.  Wait, having a poopy cloth diapers is enough.  Period! Cloth diapers ain't for the faint of heart, that much I can say. 

So I am not an expert or super user of cloth diapers by any means.  I was actually talking to another mommy at story time one about cloth diapers and comparing what diapers we used.  She mentioned a brand I had never heard of and I told her I use pocket diapers, and she giggled.  I laughed and asked her what was so funny and she told me at some super secret cloth diaper get together she goes to that they call those "daddy diapers".  I laughed!  They are super easy to use, and don't require a whole lot of thought to them, so yeah that's why I use them because I have a daddy in my house!  :)  So ha!  The jokes on you lady.   ;)

But to make this whole process a little easier, the hubs installed our own make shift diaper sprayer in our downstairs bathroom, so I can just wash all the poop away in the toilet before putting them in our diaper bin for washing.  It's rather convenient.  It's just like the little sprayer that you might have in your sink in your kitchen.  I have yet to master how not get water all over the floor in the rinsing off process, hey, I'm a work in progress! What can I say!

We aren't totally crunchy granola hippies up in this haus, not that anything is wrong with ya'll who are, I just can't do it!  We do use disposables from time to time.  We use them when we go to church and Holden is in the nursery.  I'm sorry, but I love my church nursery ladies too much to put them through that mess.  They have 100+ kiddos in the nursery at any given time and then some plus all the diapers changes they do, I am not gonna make them use a cloth diaper/wet bag situation.  Plus, I'm always afraid they're gonna put the diaper straight in his church bag and it be full of poop!  Not in retaltion (well maybe haha jk) but they don't just don't have knowledge or tools to clean out the diaper, know what I'm saying?


 So yeah, we do cloth diapers and Daddy has been on board from day one.  That was a big help, just had to show him the ropes a little bit and we are doing good.  So there are pros and cons to cloth diapers.  If you are intersted in starting or not sure, research, research, and ask question to those that do cloth diaper.  There so many webiste and facebook groups that have season mommies who cloth diaper and know so much information.  I still go on those groups and lurk and read comments or ask a question when I need to.  Helps a lot!  So happy cloth diapering, if you dare!  :)

Here are few action shots of Holden in his CD.  And some super cute print CD that I got him.  Beware, the print ones can be addicting!  I want to sell some of my solid ones to get more print ones.  haha!

We cross the street in our cloth diapers. :)

Firetrucks, mustaches and bumble bees!  Too cute!

Holden flexin' with the dogs toy bones.  Crazy kid!

Fire Fighter & Law Enforcment Discounts----They Deserve It Too!

As a LEO (law enforcement officer) wife & Fire wife, I've seen through the years my husband get praise for the job he does for our community; pats on the back for a job well done; a hug from a little old lady who is so appreciative of my husband and his kindness, and thanks your for the job he does.  I could go on and on with the the thanks you and we appreciate you's he gets.  But that's all he gets.  By that I mean, all he gets is the thank yous from the community citizens, the pats on the backs from people he helped on a call, and hugs from lil' old ladies.  He doesn't get a 10% at Home Depot for giving service to his community.  He doesn't get a free meal on a specific holiday for the service and time he served to his community.  He doesn't get a special deal on tires or furniture for the dedication to his community.  Just a pat on the back, a thank you and being a local hero is all.  Now that just ain't fair!  Who's with me?!

Now I don't want you to think I'm mocking the military discounts the enlisted and veterans get, because I'm not!  No way no how!  They work hard and deserve them justly so, but so do the LEO/Fire Fighters of your local community.  I'm a military brat myself, I moved around all my childhood till I was 15 years old.  I used the military discounts when they were available to me, no doubt!  Who doesn't use a discount when it's available right?!  But now that I'm on the other side of the fence, and as a LEO/Fire wife, I see all this hard work my husband does for our community and city, and I think he deserves more! 

My whole reason on this post was to bring awareness to our/your LOCAL community of our own LOCAL heroes!  Right here in our very own back yard.  They might not be fighting for our freedom in a foreign country, but they are protecting our local streets from robbers and murderers, they are putting out a fire in your neighborhood, or saving a child's life who needs medical attention.  They are doing it all barbecue they love the job they do, they love serving our community and helping out.  I think the least our local businesses could do is give them a discount.  

I'm not sure how to get the word out about this to our local businesses, but your gonna be damned if I'm not gonna try and find out how to get something started!  :)  This wifey is gonna make some noise!  It's the least I can do, my husband works hard to provide for our family, and works for out city and he deserves more than a pat on the back!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Holden's 1st Stache Bash

My lil' nugget is officialy a toddler now.  :(  It's so bittersweet....it's so fun to see him grow up and learn new things everyday...but the days of him being itty bitty and sleeping on my chest are long gone.  He is becoming SO independent it's not even funny.  He is ALL boy!

Man oh man, I can't wait to see what this next year brings us!  So without further ado, here are some photos of Holden's Stahse Bash!

Birthday Morning with Mommy & Daddy

Opening his presents. Daddy made the picnic table. :)

Singing Happy Birthday....

CUPCAKE!!!

His cupcake stand I made. :)

Birthday Banner I made

Welcome sign by the front door

Mustache Pinata I made....not even sure I got a good shot of it.  lol

Our before smash cake!

He was not afraid AT ALL!

Mmmmmmm Cake!!!

Thanks for Nothing Goverment!

I  am not political at all by any stretch of the imagination.  I do know that the government shut down because congress can't come together on an agreement for a budget.  Just stop blaming each other, stop pointing fingers and work it out people!  Damn! 

What I also know is that the stupid government royally messed up Holden's Grandparents first birthday visit.  BOOOOO government!  BOOOO!  My Mom and Dad got their plane tickets in August to fly (they're in Virginia) down here to Texas on Oct 9th.  Well, my Dad's job is marked as "emergency essential" so he has to stay.  He will not be flying down as regularly scheduled, but my Mom will.  I cried, I was upset, then I got over it.  At least one Grandparent (from my side) will be at Holden's party.  Then Dad called, he WILL be coming down.....on Oct 30th.  I cried tears of joy, I was happy, I got excited!  So it will be nice to have both my parents here with me later this month.  It gives me more time to plan stuff for us to do, and get some photos scheduled for us to get taken when Dad gets here.  

So yeah, there is a silver lining.  And thanks goodness for Skype, so we can Skype Dad and my brother in for Holden's cake while we sing happy birthday to him.  :)  

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Throw Back Thursday!

I've seen people post on their Facebooks, Instagrams and Twitters these past few months a "Throw Back Thursday" photo.  If you've never heard of it, it's essentially you posting and old, as in old I mean a yew years ago, or 20+ years ago; to show the entire world either how cute you looked or how nerdy you looked.  I have yet to post an nerdy ones.....but whos to say I won't in the future.  That's the whole fun of it!  Well, so I'm gonna try and post a few #tbt photos on here, when I can remember.  lol It's kinda fun to reminice and what memeories come up when you post them. 

This photo is of Kenny and I back in 2005 at a friends wedding. We had only been dating for a year and a a half at the time.  He hung the moon then, and he still hangs the moon now.  Ahhh, true love! :)

 

Brightest Blessings,

Valerie

1 Year Photos done by Yours Truly!

Not wanting to pay and arm and a leg for photos, I decided to do them myself.  Yeah, yeah, I know that the professionals know what they're doing and they do a good job, sorry honey I just don't have the extra $300 for a 1hr photo session.  So I did it myself with help of my good friend Jen.  Sooooo here is a few of what we took.  Holden did exceptionally well! Such a good boy.  I wanna do a cake smash photo next week, so that will be coming soon....maybe.  lol  I have a busy week next week.

Oh, and to answer any questions about the props in the photos....here it goes.  My hubby made the mini Adirondack chair--I painted it (nautical blue), got the "ONE" letters form Michaels, I made the mustache name banner as well as the birthday stat board.  I will have some tutorials to follow soon!  :)

You talking to me?

Had to take one of the meltdown!  :)

Such a ham!

Can't expect an almost 1yr old to sit still

Always on the go!

I am in the love with this!  :)